While I’ve been happy with my Apple Watch Ultra this past year, rumors of an Apple Watch X have made me hope for a big change when it comes to setting up the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch X is allegedly going to be a big redesign, similar to the iPhone X. And I’ve been wondering what it should bring to make its mark, much like the iPhone X did in 2017.

While some rumors point to it being able to change color like a chameleon to match the clothes you’re wearing, I’ve been looking back at some features that made a huge difference to how we’ve used our iPhones over the years.

With this in mind, there’s a big feature that I’d love to see arrive with Apple Watch X that would revolutionize the Apple Watch and make its mark for the next decade.

iPhone and iTunes

In the early years of the iPhone, you would buy the device from an Apple Store or a network provider, and the first thing you’d have to do is plug it into a computer. This way, iTunes would validate your new purchase, activate it, and you’d be good to go.

When iOS 5 arrived in 2011, Apple changed this so you could activate your iPhone by just making sure a SIM card was inside, and it could connect to the network provider. Apple called it ‘PC Free’, and this saved a big headache for users. There would be times when some users wouldn’t be able to access a Mac or Windows PC for instance, so they’d have a temporary paperweight until their iPhone was plugged in somewhere.

But now, it’s a feature that feels like it’s always been there, ever since the iPhone’s debut in 2007, and the same should apply to Apple Watch.

iPhone Free

When you buy an Apple Watch, the first thing you’re prompted to do is to point your iPhone at its watch face so it can begin the start-up process. But I want this to be redesigned for Apple Watch X.

It may sound unimaginable, but there are Apple customers who don’t have an iPhone, but gladly use an iPad, a Mac, and other products. If they want to use an Apple Watch to track their health and fitness, they’re stuck.

But there’s also the point that no one can manage their Watch on an iPad or Mac even if they do have an iPhone. You can’t change watch faces, nor can you place widgets in iPadOS and macOS to track your fitness as you can in iOS.

These feel like big misses for both sets of users. So for Apple Watch X, let’s see this change. When you first turn the wearable on, have it pair to your account when it’s near an Apple device, similar to how the AirPods work.

This way, your Apple Watch X can detect what’s nearby, and it follows a similar set-up process as before.

The Watch app then appears on your Mac, iPad, or both when it’s ready to be used, and you can manage and change it as you wish, much like how you can on your iPhone right now.

A feature that could set up Apple Watch for years to come

Granted, there may be some who think that it takes away a core part of the Apple Watch, as it’s always been a companion to the iPhone. But I say that’s wrong. It should be classed as a companion to you, to what you use every day.

Many of us use iPads and Macs every day for our work and hobbies, and a lot of that time is spent staying in one place. So to be able to create new watch faces and change some complications on these devices would be a great help.

This change would also mean that new users could now own an Apple Watch, without worrying about having to switch to an iPhone. If they only have an M1 MacBook Air, that’s good enough, and that’s how it should be.

iPhone X was said to set the standard for the next decade for iPhone, and that’s exactly what the Apple Watch X should be. It’s these features that can change how someone can use the Watch for the better, or have it appeal to others who have never owned one before.

If Apple decides to look into a similar feature to this, it could open up the wearable to even more users for the next decade, and beyond.

The time between the developer preview for iOS 4 and iOS 5 was the longest to date. Rather than a spring event like in previous years, Apple didn't reveal any details of iOS 5 until WWDC 2011 in June. Also, rather than a summer release, general availability was held off until October of that year. So what did Apple manage to achieve with those extra months? Several things that weren't made available to developers, including Siri and Notification Center widgets. iCloud, however, and the sync services that came with it, were big. As was Newsstand and its subscription services, at least potentially. In keeping with tradition, however, neither was without controversy.

Meanwhile, over 500,000 apps were available in the App Store and downloads had topped 18 billion. By January, 2012, over $4 billion had been paid out to developers. By March, App Store downloads hit 25 billion, and by June, the App Store was available in 155 countries.

Subscription perdition

Apple originally announced App Store subscriptions in 2008 as part of the iPhone OS 3 event, but they never took off. At a special event in February of 2011, Apple's Eddy Cue joined FOX's Rupert Murdoch to announce proper subscription support on the App Store, and the Daily, a new, all-iPad magazine to spearhead it.

At WWDC in June, Apple showed off Newsstand, a special kind of folder that housed all the magazine, newspaper, and other subscription, periodical apps. Again, developers had to update to support Newsstand and its subscription features, but once they did:

• The subscription app would download to Newsstand, not the general Home screen
• The subscription app would "wake up" once a day to refresh content, if anything new was available.
• The subscription app would show the latest cover or front page artwork, instead of the app artwork, to visually cue users to potentially new content.

Reaction to the Daily was so-so. Reaction to Apple wanting their traditional 30-percent cut of revenue from subscribers, but not allowing any surcharging in the App Store to make up the difference, was explosive. The late Steve Jobs framed his position for Apple:

The issue became conflated with digital goods being offered as in-app purchases in general, perhaps exemplified most by Amazon's Kindle App. The platform concerns that come with deviating from 30% in any way were summed up by Matt Drance, former Apple developer evangelist and current Apple Outsider:

John Gruber framed it as harming middle-men in an ecosystem where Apple wanted to subsume the roll of the middle-man, and put it into the console model context on Daring Fireball:

These issues remain, though largely below the surface today. iBooks, however, which involves similar issues of revenue split and most-favored nation pricing, is a different matter. At Amazon's behest the U.S. Justice Department has taken Apple to court and won in the early rounds. Apple has called into question the severity of the remedies sought by the DoJ and vowed to appeal.

The Daily, meanwhile, couldn't create a sustainable business, and many other periodicals simply exported iOS compatible, if not friendly, versions of their print magazines from the same workflow. It took an iOS developer, moving into publishing, to show what Newsstand and subscriptions on the App Store could really do. Marco Arment:

The Magazine feels like a digitally native publication, and is still running, successfully, today. It's an example of how frameworks provided by Apple can allow developers to enter into, and potentially disrupt old, less agile businesses.

iCloud sync or swim

iCloud rebooted Apple's troubled and tarnished MobileMe service, rebranding the personal information management portion, taking away iDisk but giving backup and restore. For developers, however, it provided key value and document sync - or, as Apple repeated over and over again, storage up on the cloud and push down to devices.

Rather than the typical model of a single truth store with the web as the canonical view of that truth, Apple made all devices peers, including the Mac, which was placed on the same level as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. And all copies, of all data, on all devices, were considered equal. Or, at least, the way in which iCloud handled updates and conflicts was kept completely hidden from the end user.

This proved to be both the best and worst of worlds for developers, because when it worked out, it allowed almost magical sync that required no new accounts or setup for users. When it din't work, however, it was black box that provided no mechanisms for troubleshooting.

In April of 2012, six months in, Federico Viticci surveyed developers and shared their opinions on MacStories:

While key value sync apparently worked well enough, it only worked for very small amounts of data. Document sync took longer to solidify, but Apple's use of it in products like iWork forced them to get it done. Core Data sync, introduced later, and barely used by Apple, has been extremely painful for developers, to the point where many, publicly, stopped using it. Daniel Pasco of Black Pixel:

Either way, iCloud has not yet lived up to its promise. It's not become ubiquitous. To this day, not all apps use it, and certainly not all games Angry Birds developer Rovio recently chose to roll their own sync. Part of the reason for that is lack of cross-platform support, which means developers who also have Android or Windows apps can't use it. Brent Simmons of NetNewsWire fame writing on Inessential:

The flip-side to that is developers who would, on their own, be unable to write web and sync services, but get them "for free" with iCloud. If they're happy to stay in Apple's ecosystem, then they and their users enjoy tremendous additional functionality at far less effort and cost.

More recently, at WWDC 2013, Apple apparently addressed concerns over iCloud sync in general, and Core Data sync in particular. We'll have to wait and see how, post-iOS 7, that manifests.

In the meantime, these types of services are absolutely the future so it behooves Apple to pour every resource at their disposal into nailing them.

And so the story of the App Store continued. Amazing functionality bringing with it enormous controversy. Empowerment without transparency. Opportunity, but not without risk and frustration. Was such life?

To be continued...

• App Store Year Zero: How unsweetened web apps and unsigned code drove the iPhone to an SDK
• App Store Year One: Shocking successes, game-changers, and unpredictable pain
• App Store Year Two: Pushy new app options, iPads, and the advent of freemium
• App Store Year Three: Mild-mannered multitasking, iAD, and getting Game Center

The untethered iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak could be released in a matter of days. Many people have been eagerly awaiting an untethered jailbreak for the latest version of iOS 5.1.1. It has taken a while for it to even look possible never mind become available. Now it appears that the wait may finally be over and it could arrive as early as next week. According to jailbreak developer pod2g.

Update: @MuscleNerd has provided some additional information, which he prefaces by saying is tentative and subject to last minute change:

• the initial 5.1.1 plan used a kernel exploit from @westbaer which unfortunately precluded use in iPod3,1 and iPhone2,1
• @planetbeing stepped up and provided a kernel exploit that covers both of those. Those two JBers are the bomb!
• The 5.1.1 A5 JB is very similar to the A5 5.0.1 JB. @pimskeks has done a tremendous job supporting both 5.0.1 and 5.1.1 in absinthe
• Similar to 5.0.1, there will also be a 5.1.1 CLI "cinject" binary and redsn0w version of the 5.1.1 JB+untether. Absinthe, cinject, and redsn0w will all provide the same JB in different fashions.
• timing is indeterminate. Plans are for this week, but a number of factors can influence that.
• For those wishing to donate, we've set up a new 5.1.1 paypal URL: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4U6DQGJ2NRVUN -> Please don't pirate AppStore apps (seriously, please do not).

There is some good news and bad news with this particular jailbreak. First the bad news -- the new jailbreak tool will still not support the latest 1080p Apple TV. The good news however is pod2g believes that it should work with the new iPad; whichever version you have although testing has not been done on the iPad 3 Global version. The new jailbreak tool hasn't been tested yet on the just released iPad 2 R2 either but again it is believed to work.

I personally can't wait for this to arrive just so I can update some apps that must have iOS 5.1 like the latest versions of iMovie, Pages and Numbers.

Anyone else looking forward to the iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak?

Source: @Pod2g, Pod2g's iOS Blog, MuscleNerd.com

It's been a week since Apple released iOS 5.1.1 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad so I'm wondering -- have you updated yet? Now that we're footloose and PC-free, and have over-the-air (OTA) updates, it's easier than ever to make sure your device is always running the latest and greatest version of iOS. The minute a software update hits, we post about it here on iMore and with only a few quick taps you can manually start the update process on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Eventually, Apple will send you a pop-up notification to tell you an update is ready, and you can tap to get it started. Apple will badge the Settings icon as well, so you know you need to go in and look for... something.

But there are still some reasons people may not want to update. At least not yet. Some may be waiting to see how battery life and performance work out (it's fine, according to our readers). This is especially true for users of older devices like the iPhone 3GS.

Others might be jailbroken and be waiting on an iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak before they update. If you rely on certain jailbreak features, there's no reason to lose them just for a minor bug fix or performance fix update, especially if you've been waiting on an iOS 5.1.x untethered jailbreak for your device for months already.

Still others might simply not see any compelling reason to update to iOS 5.1.1. If your device is working fine, if security patches aren't a big deal to your, and since there are no new features to be had, it may not seem worth even the small amount of effort OTA takes.

I've updated my iPad but not my iPhone. My iPhone is jailbroken so I won't be updating any time soon. Even if I wasn't jailbroken, I probably wouldn't update until Apple released a new feature I really wanted. I rely on my phone for my work, and its working, and I won't mess with a stable environment if I don't have to.

How about you? Have you updated to iOS 5.1.1 yet? If you have more than one iOS device, have you updated all of them? If you haven't updated yet, why not? Vote in the poll up top and give me all the details in the comments below!

Apple has pushed out iOS 5.1.1, a free software update for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users. The minor point release focuses, as usual, on bug fixes and performance enhancements.

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
• Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
• Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
• Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• Fixes an issue where 'Unable to purchase' alert could be displayed after successful purchase

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

You can update now quickly and efficiently, on-device and over-the-air (OTA) by going to Settings, General, Software Update on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Or you can break out the USB dock cable, tether up, and launch iTunes on your Mac or Windows desktop. If you need help updating, here's where to go:

• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over-the-air using iCloud
• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad using iTunes on Mac or Windows
• iOS 5 help and discussion forum

Jailbreakers, as always, will want to stay clear. If you notice any other changes, drop us a line.

Apple typically ships iOS x.1 updates with new iPod touches in the fall and includes several new, fairly nifty features. Last year, however, there was no new iPod touch and so iOS 5.1 comes to us in the spring with the new iPad. The first two iPads shipped with iOS 3.2, which introduced the iPad-sized interface to iOS, and iOS 4.2 which re-unified the platform and brought iOS 4 features to the iPad for the first time. iOS 5.1 is nowhere near as ambitious, nor does it need to be. The interface has been introduced, the platform re-unified, the heavy lifting is done. So it is iOS 5.1 falls decidedly on the modest side of point release updates, with only a few, small changes and enhancements (and one arguable feature reduction). Maybe that's also because iOS 5 was such a huge update, or they've saving more for a potential iOS 5.2 later this spring or summer, or iOS 6 this fall.

In any case, with iOS 5.1 the angels -- and devils -- are in the details.

Previously on iOS

iOS 5.1 is based on the huge iOS 5 update that happened in October of 2011, so if you haven't already, make sure you read our massive iOS 5 walkthrough once you're finished this. iOS 5.1 is also based on the foundation of all versions of iOS that came before, so for completists sake, here they are.

• iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad walkthrough
• iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPad walkthrough
• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

iOS 5.1

If you don't have time to read all this now, hit play on the video below and we'll tell you everything you need to know about iOS 5.1 in just under 2 minutes.

iOS 5.1 feels like it had the longest beta period of any iOS version. The first beta arrived on November 28, 2011, the second on December 12, 2011, the third on January 9, 2012, and the Gold Master (GM)... never. Unlike any previous beta that I can remember, Apple didn't release any final build for developers to test against, they simply released the final build for everyone on March 7, 2012, as part of the new iPad event. That neatly put an end to any hope that the especially long beta period would lead to a plethora of new features. Indeed, there are only a few.

Lock screen fast camera access (iPhone and iPod touch only)

With iOS 5, double-clicking the Home button caused a camera icon to pop up on the lock screen to the right of the Slide to Unlock control. Tapping the camera icon sent you straight to the Camera app (even if your iPhone was passcode locked). It was a fast way to take a picture, but apparently it wasn't fast enough. With iOS 5.1 the camera icon is always on the Lock screen, always to the right of the Slide to Unlock control. Instead of tapping it, however, all you have to do is swipe up to "lift away" the Lock screen and reveal the Camera app.

While in the Camera app, you can take pictures and tap through to the Camera roll and see any of the photos you've taken, but if your iPhone is passcode locked that's all you can see. (If it's not passcode locked, you can click the Home button and use your iPhone as if you'd unlocked it normally).

When you're done, or if you choose not to take any photos, you can swipe down from the status bar to "pull down" the Lock screen back into place. (It's the same gesture as you'd used to access Notification Center.)

Siri

Apple's contextually aware voice controlled assistant, Siri, remains in beta some five months after it was first released. And that's a good thing. Voice control requires a ton of user data and Apple's not doubt collecting and analyzing as much as they can to make the service better. Since Siri still fails on occasion -- though it at least tells you when it fails, unlike dictation which simply returns to cursor, laughing at you -- I'm happy they're taking their time. They need to get it right more than they need to get it right now.

With iOS 5.1, Apple has added a single, solitary new language to Siri. It's not English (Scottish), so Siri still won't understand "jammy dodger" or "chip butty", and it's not any other English localization or Romantic language like Italian. It's Japanese, the first Asian language to be supported.

The new iPad (3rd generation) didn't get full-on Siri support, perhaps because of the challenges involved in porting the user interface over. However, the new iPad did get the very useful Dictation feature, which handles speech to text input anywhere keyboard entry is possible, including built-in apps and App Store apps.

To activate Dictation, just tap the microphone icon on the keyboard.

Home screen

The iPhone home screen received one of the most notorious updates in recent history, and also lost some workaround functionality that many power users considered extremely convenient.

iOS previously added a small, northeast pointing arrow to the status bar to inform users when location-based services were running, either actively in an app like Maps, or in the background like turn-by-turn navigation or Find my Friends. iOS 5.1 adds a new variation to this icon -- an outline form that indicates a geo-fence has been established. For example, if you've used Reminders to set up an alert for when you leave or arrive at a specific location.

Apple has changed the AT&T indicator in the top left corner to read 4G instead of 3G.

While 4G is often thought to identify the next-generation LTE networks that can reach 72+ mbps, marketing has overcome morals and T-Mobile, AT&T, and others have begun to classify anything HSPA+ 14.4 or above as 4G. Since some versions of HSPA+ can reach as high as 42 mbps, a case could be made that these networks offer "4G-like" speeds. However, they're still using 3G technology to do it, which makes the marketing a fairly consumer-hostile thing to do. It may be easier for carriers to print 4G on boxes or change status bar graphics than to build actual LTE networks, but it confuses customers and ultimately undermines trust.

Shame on you.

Note: Other carriers with similar or even better HSPA+ networks than AT&T still have indicators reading 3G.

iOS 5 surfaced URL schemes for Settings. By adding those URLs to the Home screen as icons, users could quickly tap into brightness controls, Wi-Fi toggles, Bluetooth toggles, etc. It was awkward and an obvious work-around, but convenient. It was also apparently a security risk and something Apple seems not to have meant to surface for the general public. iOS 5.1 no longer surfaces URL schemes for Settings.

Photos

There's only one major change to the Photos app in iOS 5.1, but it's an important one for iCloud users.

Originally Photo Stream was an all or nothing proposition. If it was on, any photo you took, no matter how private, or a friend took, even as a prank, would be stuck in your Photo Stream for 30 days or 1000 photos, whichever came first. You could turn it off, or delete the entire Photo Stream, but you couldn't delete individual photos.

Now you can. Just select the photo, tap the Action button, tap delete, and confirm.

Camera

While iOS 4.1 brought HDR photos, and there were rumors that a panorama mode was hidden in iOS 5, no such feature has appeared in iOS 5.1. In addition to the aforementioned fast Camera access from the Lock screen, iOS 5.1 adds a small update for the iPhone camera and something more substantial for the iPad.

While face detection itself remains the same, able to discern up to 10 individual faces, the Camera app will now highlight all of those faces, not just the most prominent. It might be more accurate, but it can also be more cluttered.

iPad 2 and the new iPad get an entirely new Camera user interface with iOS 5.1, one that better suits the bigger screen. All the controls remain the same, if rendered differently now. In broad strokes, it makes the bar across the screen transparent, moves the Grid option to the bar, and swaps the Camera shutter button to the side, floating it over the live view.

For the new iPad (3rd generation), many of the iPhone 4S Camera app features have also been added, including facial recognition, 1080p video recording, image stabilization, and Apple A5X chipset based digital signal processing.

Videos

There's no way for a software update to fix the anemic speakers included with the iPad, but there is a way for them to address part of the problem. With iOS 5.1, Apple does just that.

According to Apple, iOS 5 makes the audio for both TV shows and movies both louder and clearer.

Thanks to the incredibly dense 2048x1536 Retina display on the new iPad, the Videos app has been update to include support for playing 1080p TV shows an movies in full resolution. (iPhone 4S and iPad 2 have been able to load 1080p content, but downsampled it to fit their smaller screen resolutions for playback.)

• 1080p iTunes video: Is the difference in image quality worth the difference in file size?

iTunes Store

Yes, Ping is still there in the iTunes Store app. There are a couple of new features there as well, mainly to support Apple's new content offerings and to expand on Apple's iCloud integration.

To compliment the new iPad and the new Apple TV's ability to play back 1080p content at full resolution, the iTunes store now sells 1080p content. It's not specific to iOS 5.1, but the feature was added at the same time so we're noting it here.

(Note: U.S. only right now.)

iTunes now offers the ability to re-download previously purchased iTunes movies. Previously, you could re-download music and TV shows, so now the circle is pretty much complete. As with 1080p content, this isn't exclusive to iOS 5 but the time coincided nicely.

Just tap the Purchased tab on the bottom of the screen and then choose which type of media you want to re-download. You can either view All your previous purchases or just the ones Not On This iPhone/iPod/iPad. You'll be given an alphabetical list of songs, topped by options for All Songs and Recent Purchases. All Songs can be further filtered by Most Recent, Song Name, and Artist Name. Tap the iCloud Download icon to start re-downloading.

(Note: U.S only right now.)

App Store

While not exclusive to iOS 5.1, Apple did make an important change to the App Store and it's worth noting here.

At the same time Apple released iOS 5.1, they increased the iTunes cellular data download limit to 50MB. This is up from 20MB, which itself was an increase from the original 10MB limit. This may or may not be enough to enable modest (i.e., non-game) universal apps with iPad retina graphics to be download over-the-air (OTA).

When an app passes the cellular data download limit, users can no longer buy or re-install it when on the go, away from Wi-Fi, which is inconvenient.

60MB would have been better, but 50MB is a marked improvement none-the-less.

Settings

While Settings typically gets a lot of additions to support new iOS features, iOS 5.1 didn't get a lot of new features to support. So, new Settings are thin this time around.

The iPhone and iPod touch get left out in the cold, but the iPad scores four new, water themed wallpapers. The new ones, in order from top left, show an ocean horizon, waves gently rolling up on a beach, due on the grass, and rippled in a pool.

iOS 5.1 on the iPhone 4S adds Japanese as an option for Siri.

Removed in iOS 5, the Enable 3G toggle makes a triumphant return in iOS 5.1.

(Note: Not everyone is seeing it. I have it on Rogers so it may vary based on the carrier settings.)

Safari

Perhaps in an effort to help mainstream users figure out just what to do when confronted with a blank browser, Safari has added the text "Go to this address" to the URL address bar.

Clock

In iOS 5.1, the Clock app remains iPhone and iPod touch only (sorry, iPad users), but continues the trend of small, incremental improvements.

iOS 5 renamed the iPod app to the Music app, but left the Clock timer with a function called "Sleep iPod". Since it's been able to automatically end more types of audio than just the built-in music player for a while now, that label was inaccurate on many levels. Apple's now fixed things by renaming it to "Stop Playing".

Music

Apple's new iCloud gets integrated with their old recommendation engine in the iOS 5.1 Music app, and the iPad finally becomes a first class podcast citizen.

With iOS 5.1, the iPad gets the same podcast controls the iPhone and iPod touch have been enjoying for years. Just tap the button to vary playback speed between 1/2, 1x, and 2x, or to jump back at 30 second intervals to re-listen to anything you may have missed.

If you subscribe to Apple's iTunes Match music locker service, you can now use Genius Mixes and Genius playlists with your iTunes Match music.

iPhoto

While not built in to iOS 5.1, Apple's iPhoto was released alongside iOS 5.1. Taken together with GarageBand and iMovie, it completes Apple's move to bring their desktop iLife suite from desktop to mobile. With powerful, touch-based image editing options, while not perfect (it lacks any form of useful syncing options for photos or non-destructive edits), it further shows the content-creation potential of the iOS platform.

• iPhoto review

Pricing and Availability

iOS 5.1 is was released as a free update to all supported devices on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Although not all features are supported on all devices -- or all generations of all devices -- iOS 5.1 can be installed on the following:

• iPhone 4S (2011)
• iPhone 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPhone 3GS (2009, 2010, and 2011)
• iPod touch 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPod touch 3 (2009)
• iPad 2 (2011)
• iPad (2010)

Should you update?

Yes, absolutely and immediately with the usual caveats. If you're on older hardware like iPhone 3GS and you're reading this just as iOS 5.1 becomes available, you might want to wait a couple of weeks and make sure there aren't any reports of excessive sluggishness or other issues. Second, if you're jailbroken and don't want to lose your jailbreak entirely, or have to rely on a tethered Jailbreak, you might want to wait until a nicely packaged iOS 5.1 jailbreak is released for your device (the new iPad, iPad 2, and iPhone 4S might take a while).

Otherwise this is a very small update that doesn't change very much but does improve several things from iOS 5 and is definitely worth downloading and installing post haste.

How to update

You can update to iOS 5.1 either via iTunes or directly on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over-the-air (OTA). Generally speaking, OTA updates are better because a) since they only include the changes (delta/bit differential), they're smaller and faster to download, and b) the update happens in-place, without having to backup and then restore your device.

• How to update your iPhone or iPad software over the air (OTA)
• How to update your iPhone or iPad software using iTunes

Help and discussion

For more on iOS, check out the iMore forums. Whether you just want to discuss features, need help with bugs or other issues, or enjoy helping out other users, it's great to get involved with the community.

• iOS 5 forum

Conclusion

iOS 5.1 was one of the longest betas, one of the fastest releases, and one smallest, feature-wise, we've seen to date. What, if anything, that suggests about the iOS roadmap is really hard to say. If iOS 6 keeps to last year's pattern, we won't even see a beta until Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June or July. That leaves plenty of time for an iOS 5.2 if Apple chooses to develop and release one.

If not, iOS 5 itself was such a major update, the new iPad such a phenomenal piece of hardware, and new apps like iPhoto for iOS doing so much of the heavy lifting these days, Apple might just be able to get away with it.

iOS 5.1 has been in beta for a while now, but several features have remained hidden from developers thus far -- potentially including rich text formatting for the Notes app. Previously limited to just plain text, iPhone Hellas reports that users will soon be able to include bulleted lists, links, underlined text, change the font color and more.

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will be getting rich text editing in the [new Notes app for Mac, so this would mean parity between the platforms. If accurate, it's great to see Apple pushing Notes a little further, as it's been essentially the same since the early iPhone OS days. It probably won't have any effect on App Store note-taking apps, which often include additional features, or features Apple would never add, like Dropbox or Box.net support, or allow hand-writing support.

Like the Photos app, it's just bare bones functionality.

iOS 5.1 has been rumored to hit the streets on March 9th from operator profile code uncovered in the latest beta release, which is also right around the time we think Apple will be announcing the iPad 3.

Source: iPhoneHellas

Apple may have begun testing what appears to be ZFS (Zettabyte File System) support in the latest iOS 5.1 beta. If the information received by iMore is accurate. references to ZFS, including the mounting tools, are contained deep inside the system files. This raises a lot of questions about where Apple may be taking iOS storage in the future.

If you're not familiar with ZFS, here's Wikipedia's introduction:

In other words, it's highly scalable and highly resilient, something you want in cloud environments. ZFS support was included in some earlier versions of Mac OS X, but was not included in the final, shipping version. Rumor has it Apple wasn't pleased when Sun spoke openly about Apple's adoption of their technology, leading Apple to pull the plug. Whether that's accurate or whether Apple simply determined it was going to go another way with OS X storage is unknown.

Even without official Apple support, we've seen OS X ZFS ports crop up since then. What sets this iOS implementation apart from some of the very original, official, OS X ports of ZFS is that it already contains the ZFS utilities (zpool, zdump, etc). By having the utilities already installed it means that the port is in a more complete stage of development and has full read + write access (unlike the original OS X ports).

So here's the question again, if this information is accurate, why is Apple looking to include ZFS in iOS? Could it be part of a greater plan to integrate better cloud services into future versions of the iPhone and iPad?

More: Wikipedia

Jailbroken on iOS 5 and wondering whether you should get LockInfo or IntelliscreenX? While both are utilities that aim to give you more control over your iPhone notifications and lockscreen, they do have key differences. Which is better for you?

LockInfo for iOS 5

LockInfo by David Ashman has been a long time favorite of mine when it comes to enhancing lockscreen functionality and gaining more control over native notifications. It still lives up to its reputation under iOS 5. LockInfo is really aimed at folks who'd like to have more control of how notifications behave and how they're presented. If you don't want certain information in notification center, you can disable it but still view it on your lockscreen, and vice versa. You can completely customize what appears where and how.

LockInfo also has built-in support for several different messaging applications including BiteSMS, Quickreply for SMS, iRealSMS, and more. Regardless what messaging replacement app you choose, LockInfo probably has you covered.

When it comes to content, LockInfo adds a few nice features that aren't given to you stock. One of my favorites is access to your favorite contacts directly from notification center and your lockscreen. Tapping a contact allows you to call, FaceTime, or message them. It's a nice little feature that you wouldn't think you needed but quickly realize you don't want to go without.

LockInfo also works in conjunction with many plug-ins. Some are distributed by David Ashman himself while others were created by other 3rd party developers. Given the amount of time LockInfo has been around, there are tons of plug-ins and add-ons for it. Some of the most popular ones include ToDo by Appigo, Twitter, Weather, and RSS.

You'll find a few built-in themes that you can switch between such as a classic iOS version, the classic LockInfo version, and a few more. Since LockInfo has been around for quite a while many developers have made themes for it as well. Some complete themes will even have a LockInfo theme attached. Yes, it's that widely accepted in the jailbreak community.

IntelliscreenX for iOS 5

Intelliborn has been around for a long time and has created many apps within the jailbreak community, including the original version of Intelliscreen. While I always preferred LockInfo over the original version, IntelliscreenX has come a long way in terms of functionality. Anyone who is heavy into social media and has to have quick access to Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds will want to look no further than IntelliscreenX.

You can add all these widgets as separate pages and reply or post status updates directly from your notification center or lockscreen. The only down side I've seen to this is the accelerated battery drain.

Messages+ also comes built-in to IntelliscreenX as well. While I've been a huge fan of BiteSMS for a long time, Messages+ will definitely give Bite a run for its money. I love the tight integration with the default messaging app. There's nothing to install and very little to configure. It just works how it's supposed to and adds quick reply support.

Considering Messages+ is typically $7.99 on its own, you get a pretty good deal considering IntelliscreenX is $2 more. So if you're not keen on paying for LockInfo and Bite or Messages+, IntelliscreenX may be a better value for many people.

LockInfo vs IntelliscreenX -- which is better?

Both LockInfo and IntelliscreenX are highly competitive jailbreak apps and which is better can change every time one of them is updated. For now I think IntelliscreenX has an an edge over LockInfo. LockInfo is an amazing utility, but users who are heavily into social networking and Facebook will benefit more from IntelliscreenX and its tight integration with iOS 5.

If you are more concerned with having control over plug-ins and where content is presented, go with LockInfo. But for now, I'm giving my vote to IntelliscreenX.

While I may personally prefer IntelliscreenX, I know there are tons of you out there who probably disagree. Let us know what you use and why! Make sure you also check out all our jailbreak resources below for more reviews, guides, and tips!

• Jailbreak apps, hacks, and themes forum
• Jailbreak and unlock help forums
• Jailbreak guides, how-to's and news

New to iPhone, iPad touch, or iPad and curious how to set up one of Apple's new, free iCloud accounts? Not only is iCloud great for email, calendar, and contacts, it also lets you backup your important settings and information. Luckily, creating a new iCloud account is a very simple process.

• Open Settings from your home screen
• Click on Mail, Contacts, Calendars

• Click on Add Account...
• Select iCloud at the top of the list

• Click on Get a Free Apple ID

• Enter your location
• Enter your date of birth

• A new window will now open asking you to use an existing email address or get a free @me.com address

• Select get a free @me.com email address

• Fill in all your details and select next
• Accept the iCloud terms and conditions

• That's it done, you now have a new iCloud account all set up and ready to go on your iOS 5 device!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com.

New to iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and iOS 5 and wondering how to configure Notification Center so you get the alerts you need but not the interruptions you don't? Luckily, you can choose between 3 different alert styles, from in-your-face popups to subtle banners to none at all. Follow along and we'll show you how!

Popup Alerts

Popup alerts are the old style iOS notifications of the pass, a big box that leaps out at you and won't do anything else until you either cancel it or act on it. While old school, these types of alerts still have their place for anything your really don't want to miss -- alarms, calendar appointments, reminders, etc. If you want to be absolutely, positively certain you see something, set notifications to a popup alert.

Banners

Banners briefly roll down from the top of the screen. If you don't want to be bothered by a notification, you simply ignore the banner and go about your business, dismiss the banner by flicking it away, or just wait a couple of seconds and it will roll back up and disappear all on its own. Because they're subtle, they're best used for things that are nice-to-known but not incredibly urgent -- personal email, social network messages, news alerts, etc. If it's not critical but you are curious, set notification to banners.

None

If you set a notification to none, you won't get an alert at all. No popup, no banner, no nothing. Because you won't be alerted, this is best for apps that you want to keep around but don't want to know about unless you specifically open them -- games you play infrequently, social apps you seldom visit, apps you only use when traveling, etc. If it's more interruption than notification, set it to none.

Configuring alert styles

Apple has included deep granular controls in the Notification Center, so configuring it can seem like a daunting task for new users. It's really simple, however, so just follow these quick steps to help you configure Notification Center in iOS 5:

1. Open the Settings app from the iPhone home screen.
2. Tap the 'Notifications' settings pane.

3. Tap the name of the app you want to configure the alert style for.
4. Choose popup alerts, banner alerts, or no alerts.

Bonus tip: Sounds

In addition to the three notification types listed above, you often also have the option to set a sound and/or vibration alert for a notification. Again, if the notification is really important to you -- SMS/MMS/iMessage, Twitter DM or Facebook message, work email, etc. you may want to hear and feel when it comes in.

Otherwise, you can turn sound off and enjoy a slightly more peaceful existence.

1. Launch Settings
2. Scroll down and tap Sound
3. Choose the app you want to set the Sound for

That's it, you're ready to stay informed but not overwhelmed! We'll be back with more Notification Center tips shortly but in the meantime if you have any advice on keeping alerts under control, let us know in comments!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com.

Even with all iOS 5 has to offer, if you're anything like me you'll always find a reason to jailbreak. I've always been the type of person who wants more flexibility and control over my iPhone. Luckily, a bunch of Jailbreak tweaks and apps have been updated for iOS 5 compatibility and allow me to have just that.

There will no doubt be a flood of them soon but for right now, right this minute, here are a list of our favorites, the ones we think are the best — TiPb's Top 5 Jailbreak apps and tweaks that will help you get the most out of iOS 5!

SBSettings has not only been around forever, it has remained one of the most useful jailbreak utilities available. It allows you to add quick toggles for commonly used features such as brightness, 3G, airplane mode, bluetooth, and more. While SBSettings comes with a lot of the more commonly used toggles built in you can download even more from Cydia. You can also download themes to change the look of SBSettings as well.

Now with iOS 5 compatibility it has never been easier to access quick gestures and manage your device. Simply enable SBSettings in Notification Center and it's right there whenever you need it.

Free - Cydia Link

This is yet another utility that's been around almost as long as iOS has. But for most jailbreakers this is a tweak you'll definitely want to have. You'll probably end up using it anyways whether you realize it or not. Some apps even require that you install Activator in order to use them.

The whole point of Activator is to make it easier to get to things you use most frequently. If you send a lot of texts you may want a gesture that allows you to bring up a BiteSMS quick compose screen. Activator allows you to do this by simply assigning certain gestures to specific applications. Tons of jailbreak applications and utilities have built-in support for Activator.

If there is ever a period of time I have to suffer with a stock iPhone I still find myself trying to open things with gestures only to frown when it doesn't work. I still find myself wondering why shortcut gestures have not been more heavily implemented into iOS considering the wide adoption rate of Activator among the jailbreak community.

Free - Cydia Link

While I think iOS has the cleanest and slickest interface out of any smartphone on the current market I still get bored from time to time and feel the need to switch it up. While a lot of long time jailbreakers have used tools like Summerboard and more recently Winterboard, the jailbreak scene just gets better and better. While Dreamboard is a newer app in its early stages it shows a lot of promise.

The ability to customize and create themes comes built into the app. You can replace and swap out icons and customize until your heart's content. For jailbreakers who are rather picky about themes and want the ability to have more control over "the little things", Dreamboard may be just what you're looking for. I'm sure we'll start to see Dreamboard extensions and downloadable themes cropping up in Cydia pretty quickly. At the time of writing this I already see over 15 themes available for Dreamboard. This is definitely a jailbreak utility to keep your eye on.

Free - Cydia Link

YouTube Link

While I've always been a huge fan of LockInfo by David Ashman I have to admit that the guys over at Intelliborn really stepped up to the plate with their new version of IntelliScreen for iOS 5.

The tight integration with the already built-in Notification Center is really what makes this version stand out. You can just tell that a lot of thought and energy went into the project. While Notification Center is good, IntelliScreenX makes it great. It adds the functionality that Apple left out. Everything from accessing all your information from the lock screen to having a top shelf feature for toggles has been re-worked from the ground up. Intelliborn is definitely giving apps like LockInfo a lot to live up to with their next release.

The down side is as of writing this it has not yet been released. Until then you can check out the video above to see it in action. This is one I keep checking on and can't wait to try out for myself. A few other sites have been able to get a early hands-on with it and have walked away quite impressed. It should be available this Thursday or Friday to the public. We'll add a link and update when it's readily available for download. Let us know if you see it up!

Free trial, $9.99 - Will add link when publicly available

I've tried several messaging replacement apps but I always find myself coming back to Bite. When it comes down to it, it just works. It gives me the control I want and then some. And the update for iOS 5 is no different.

This time it's coming back around with a new face lift and even tighter integration to iOS. Not only will BiteSMS play nice with iOS 5 but it will also handles Apple's new iMessage protocol. The app just feels a whole lot cleaner this time around. I also like that users are now given the option to natively re-skin the Bite icon to the default Messages icon and hide the stock icon.

The iOS 5 compatible version is still in beta but it's public. In order to use it you'll need to add the following repository in Cydia -

Just a reminder that since it is still in beta you should expect a few bugs here and there. I've been using it for a bit now and haven't experienced too many issues outside of a crash here and there.

Free trial, $9.99 - Cydia Link

Your top Jailbreak app or tweak?

While this is our list of must have jailbreak apps we know you guys all have your own lists. Feel free to let us know of any cool jailbreak apps or utilities you've found as well. And if you're thinking about jailbreaking but have some questions first make sure you check out our TiPb jailbreak forums for all the help you need and answers to many commonly asked questions.

Wondering how to save video attachments you get in Email to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad camera roll? In previous versions of iOS, while you could easily tap-and-hold to save pictures in Mail, Safari, Messages and other built-in-apps, trying to do the same with movies -- movies mailed or messaged from other iPhones and iPads! -- did nothing. (Except frustrate me. Seriously. I almost dented my iPhone trying!)

iOS 5 changes that. Now, just like with pictures, all you have to do to save a video is:

1. Open the email, messages, etc. that you received the movie in
2. Tap on the icon or preview and hold on it
3. When the Save Video button pops up, Tap it!

That's it. The video will now be saved to your Camera Roll for you to use as you so wish.

For more on iOS 5, check out our massive iOS 5 walkthrough. Have any other great tips for sharing or saving video on your iPhone or iPad? Let us know!

Apple has announced they will be holding an iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour for 2011, giving developers an opportunity learn more about iOS 5, iPhone and iPad UI design sessions, adopting iCloud storage and more.

Apple will be holding training sessions for the Tech Talk World Tour in the following cities beginning in November and ending late January of next year.

• Berlin, Germany
• London, UK
• Rome, Italy
• Beijing, China
• Seoul, South Korea
• Sao Paolo, Brazil
• New York City, New York, U.S.
• Seattle, Washington, U.S.
• Austin, Texas, U.S.

We posted some notes and video from the 2009 Tech Tour, and it looks like this will be another great resource of information for iOS developers. Any developers out there planning to attend?

Source: Apple{.nofollow}

iOS 5 brings a lot of great new features to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad but more than that -- it lets developers bring us even better apps and games! Whether it's a great old app that's been updated with amazing new functionality, or a brand new app that never would have been possible before, they now get access to everything from Documents in the Cloud to AirPlay Mirroring to Twitter integration to Newsstand, to persistent location and more.

There will no doubt be a flood of them soon but for right now, right this minute, here are a list of our favorites, the ones we think are the best -- TiPb's Top 5 apps that support awesome new iOS 5 features!

iWork Numbers, Pages, and Keynote (Documents in the Cloud)

Apple's iWork productivity suite includes the Numbers spreadsheet, the Pages word processor, and the Keynote presentation maker. While not as powerful as Microsoft's ubiquitous Office suite, for smaller jobs they can make for even more beautiful, better laid out documents. And now, Documents in the Cloud. It only makes sense that Apple is right out of the gate with iCloud support for their own apps, and that the support is pretty good. Any Numbers, Pages, or Keynote document that you start on your iPhone or iPad is stored up on iCloud and pushed back down to all your other devices, including -- eventually -- the iWork apps on the Mac.

There's no file system, no file management. The idea is for you to simply open your apps and find your documents there waiting for you, up to date and ready for more. If editing on all your iOS and OS X devices is important for you, iWork is now a powerful, easy way to do it.

Note: iWork apps are universal, so you only have to buy once to use on all your iOS devices, including iPhone and iPad. However, each app needs to be bought separately, and the Mac versions need to be bought separately as well.

• Numbers - $9.99 App Store link
• Pages - $9.99 - [App Store link](mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8&at=10l3Vy
• Keynote - $9.99 App Store link

Magazine and newspaper apps (Newsstand)

While many people seem to hate even the presence of Newsstand on their home screens, it actually manages to very neatly solve several problems previously associated with subscription media like magazines and newspapers. It's really just a custom folder, and magazines and newspapers are still served up as apps, but Newsstand keeps them all in one place, updates automagically when new issues "come out", and takes you to a subscription section of the App Store so you don't have to wade through games and novelty apps to find your periodicals.

Those magazine and newspaper apps had to update for iOS 5 to support Newsstand, but many already have and many more will update shortly. If subscriptions are your thing, Newsstand, if not perfect, is certainly better.

Note: Some apps are universal, many aren't. Check for the + symbol on a case-by-case basis.

• Variable - App Store link

Real Racing 2 and Real Racing 2 HD (AirPlay Mirroring)

FireMint is always at the cutting edge of iOS gaming and iOS 5 is no different. They've already updated Real Racing 2 for iPhone and Real Racing 2 HD for iPad to support the new AirPlay Mirroring feature. It lets you stream your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 interface -- including any app or game -- through an Apple TV to a big screen HDTV. FireMint takes it to a whole new level -- they offer full on Party Play. What that means is you and up to 4 people total can each use an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 to race, multiplayer style, on the big screen. Not only is that a whole lot of fun -- it's a shot across the bow of every console in the casual gaming space.

Hopefully soon we'll see all sorts of board games, shooters, and other great titles support to feature. Until then we'll be busy playing Real Racing 2.

Note: It's not a universal binary, so you'll have to buy it separately for iPhone and iPad if you want it on both, but right now it's on 40% sale so it's as close to a no brainer as you can get.

• $2.99 on sale - iPhone App Store
• $3.99 on sale - iPad App Store

iQuick Tweet (Twitter Integration)

iOS 5 has built-in Twitter integration so you can rapidly tweet a photo, YouTube video, etc. iQuick Tweet smartly took that rapidity and made it the focus of a dedicated app. You launch, you type a Twitter status, you hit send, you're done. It's just that simple and it's just that fast.

If you want to read timelines, search through @mentions, explore profiles, check trends, or do a lot of other stuff besides tweeting, there's an embarrassment of full fledged Twitter clients on iOS, but if all you want to do is blast off a message, iQuick Tweet has you covered.

• $0.99 - iPhone App Store link

foursquare (Location)

For iOS 5 users, foursquare now offers the new Radar feature, with ability to alert you when your friends are near and doing something fun -- even if your iPhone is in your pocket. This awesome -- or terrifying -- new feature means you don't have to have your iPhone out and foursquare open all the time, in constant fear you might miss out on what's happening around you. While it's not as granular as Apple's new Find my Friends app, if your goal is to know where the cool stuff is happening, foursquare Rader is a lot more powerful.

• Free - iPhone App Store

Bonus: Instapaper (Brightness and Dictionary)

Favored as the best way to devour web articles by geeks everywhere, Instapaper proves that it's not just the big, flashy iOS 5 features that can make a difference -- the little ones matter too. Support for the built-in dictionary and native brightness controls means downloading the app is faster, and reading your saved articles is more comfortable than ever. (The UI has also received an excellent overhaul.)

Note: Instapaper is a universal app so you can buy it once and use it on all your iOS devices.

• $4.99 - App Store link

Addenda: Jailbreak apps

A lot of Jailbreak apps and tweaks are also being updated to support iOS 5. If Jailbreak is where your heart lies, keep your browser locked on TiPb.com/Jailbreak for all the updates.

Your favorite new iOS 5 apps?

iOS 5 is only a week old and we've only just begun to scratch the surface of what iOS 5 apps and games will bring to our iPhones and iPads. Did we miss any of your favorites? Did we leave any of the best new apps and updates out? Is there anything else that should have made our top 5 list?

If so, speak up and let us know in the comments!

iOS 5 is perhaps Apple's most audacious update since iOS 2, which introduced nothing less than the App Store and MobileMe. The features are almost an embarrassment of riches, including unobtrusive Notifications, the carrier-consternating iMessage, Twitter integration, a location aware Reminders app, and an entirely new UI paradigm in the artificially intelligent Siri voice control system for iPhone 4S.

And for the first time what's happening on the outside is just as compelling -- iCloud. Apple called it "cutting the cord", severing the post-PC from the PC, and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from their subservience to Mac and Windows.

But is it truly transformation or just another bold yet ultimately evolutionary step forward? Let's find out.

Updates

• iOS 5.1 for iPhone and iPad update

Previously on iOS

iOS 5 adds new features to almost every existing app on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and introduces new apps as well. Still, iOS 5 is built on the foundation of what came before, so for previously introduced functionality, please see our previous walkthroughs.

• iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPad walkthrough
• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

iOS 5

iOS 5 includes new system-wide features like Siri for iPhone 4S, PC free, Notification Center, AirPlay Mirroring, and Twitter integration, new apps like Reminders and Newsstand, and tons of new features for existing apps like iMessage, photo editing, Reader and Reading List, and much, much more.

Apple's video above gives a good overview and I'm going to go over everything on an app-by-app, feature-by-feature basis below. But like I said at the beginning, this year iOS is only half the story...

iCloud

iCloud replaces MobileMe and iWork.com, and groups together functionality previously included in the iTunes, iBooks, and App Stores. It also does setup, backup, and restore, and a host of other things.

Unlike MobileMe, Apple has carefully avoided calling iCloud a sync service. Instead, they say it wirelessly stores your content on the server and then pushes it back down to all your devices. This probably better frames the relationship between cloud and devices. There's no single master copy of "truth" on the server, but coequal copies on every device, and on iCloud.com (which Apple notes is ad free. Zing). And just like with iOS, there's no end-user exposed file system. Your data no longer exists in folders like it did on iDisk. It exists in apps.

Everyone gets 5GB of iCloud storage for free, and iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases aren't counted against that, nor are Photo Stream images. Mail, documents, accounts, settings, app data, Camera Roll, etc. do count, however. In case they count far more than your free 5GB allow, you can purchase more storage.

• 10GB for $20/year
• 20GB for $40/year
• 50GB for $100/year

When apps like Apple's own iWork suite, Numbers, Pages, and Keynote save copies of your files, those documents are stored on iCloud and pushed out to all your iOS, Mac, and Windows PC devices. Apple has made the same functionality available to 3rd party developers as well, so it's likely many if not most apps that can create and edit files will soon tie into Documents in the Cloud.

(Hopefully games will as well. Starting Angry Birds on iPhone and having to start over to play on iPad or Mac needs to be a thing of the past.)

It's not a Dropbox killer, or a name-your-favorite-sync-service-with-APIs killer of any kind. I can keep my home directory in Dropbox and use it like I use a filesystem, with the advantages of versioning and sync. iCloud doesn't -- and doesn't want -- to do any of that.

However, some apps that previously used Dropbox merely to sync documents may add iCloud as well or instead because it's built in, and I'm fine with that. It frees Dropbox up to be my file system.

Find my iPhone has been folded into iCloud, and joining it is Find my Friends, a Google Latitude-like social location sharing service that takes pains to point out its better privacy and security. Like Find my iPhone, Find my Friends isn't built into iOS, but is available for free in the App Store [Link].

When you install it you'll be asked to allow it to use Location. It's pretty much useless without it. From the All tab you can see All your Friends and a list of specific friends and their current distance from you. Tap a friend to see their Info. Since it's integrated with Contacts, if you already have their details you'll see it here. If not, you'll be able to add them. Tap through to see their location on an embedded Map. You can even curl up the page to get the basic Map-style options. Tap All Your Friends and see the world light up.

If you don't have any friends yet, you'll be given the opportunity to invite some. Tap the Edit button on the top left to remove friends.

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Under the Temporary tab you get a separate set of more constrained friends. These friends can have location sharing enabled for an hour, a day, a week -- whatever you decide. For example, your spouse or children might have permanent location sharing. A group of friends trying to find each other at a cafe might only have a couple hours of sharing.

The Me tab lets you see your own profile. Tap on your current location to see it on a map. Toggle Hide from Followers to go off grid for a while. You can also see a list of your followers and tap through to their Info.

Tap Account to sign in or out, choose from which Apple ID to send notifications, toggle Friend Request on or off, and tap through to get help.

The Requests tab lists friends who have invited you. Accepting shares your location with them. Inviting them back shares their location with you.

PC Free

Perhaps the single most profound change in iOS 5 is Apple's cutting of the iTunes cord. Never again will a Mac or Windows PC be required to activate, setup, or update a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (though you can still choose to do so if you wish.) From now on, you can activate, setup, and update directly on your device over the internet.

Other aspects of PC Free are more subtle but just as welcome, such as the ability to create photo albums and mail folders on-device. We'll cover those in the appropriate app sections; here's the big stuff.

When you turn on your new device, you'll now be presented with a screen that says iPhone, iPad touch, or iPad (depending on which device you're setting up). Just swipe to unlock and you're welcomed and invited to choose your preferred language. The most common language options will be immediately available but you can tap the down arrow to see others. Hit the Next button to pick. Apple will also provide you a default Country or Region based on where you bought your device, but you can tap Show More to expand the choices.

Interestingly, neither here nor in any later step are default choices pre-checked for you. You can't simply keep hitting Next to speed through. You have to look at the choices and tap one to check it before the Next button will even activate. Apple is forcing you to pay more attention than is often required on the web or in apps.

Next you're given a choice to globally enable or disable Location Services. Location Services use GPS, cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your device. This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like TomTom), check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Siri and Find my iPhone), etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you probably want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app's geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom's turn-by-turn navigation).

You'll need to connect to a Wi-Fi network to continue iCloud setup (if none is available, you'll have to switch to iTunes setup instead.) Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will then connect to Apple's servers to activate (the cord was cut from iTunes, not from Apple).

You have the choice to

• Setup as a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• Restore from an iCloud Backup
• Restore from an iTunes Backup

To set up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a new device, sign in with your Apple ID (or tap through to create one). If you have multiple Apple IDs, for example a MobileMe ID, an iTunes ID, an ID associated with FaceTime or something else, you'll have to choose which one you want to use. If you change your mind, you can login with a different ID later (and you can also login to different apps, like iTunes and iMessage, with separate IDs later). Agree to Apple's Terms and Conditions and Apple will setup your ID and ask if you want to use iCloud or not. If you do -- and most people should because it's 1) free for the base level service, and 2) highly functional -- you'll be asked to enable iCloud Backup -- and again, most people should. (It will create daily backups when you're connected to Wi-Fi.)

Decide whether or not you want to enable Find my iPhone to help trace lost or stolen devices, and then choose if you want to share diagnostic information with Apple to help them improve the iOS experience.

And you're done.

You can also choose to restore based on a previous iCloud Backup. You'll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Make sure it's the same Apple/iCloud ID that you used to make your previous backups. Agree to the Terms and Conditions and you'll be given a list of recent backups to choose from, including those of all iOS devices backed up to iCloud.

Pick your backup and iCloud will begin the restore. Then your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will restart, all your settings nicely back where you left them, and iTunes will begin to re-download all the apps you had installed when the backup was made. If you live in countries where iTunes in the Cloud is available, iTunes will also re-download all the iTunes music, TV shows, and iBooks that were previously on your device. (You need to stay on Wi-Fi for large files to re-download.)

For security reasons, iOS may also prompt you to set a Passcode Lock, and not wait for you to go find it in Settings on your own.

Gone are the days when, after Apple released a software update, you had to rush back to your iTunes-equipped Windows or Mac PC, download a 500MB+ firmware file, backup your data, install the new OS version, and restore you data back to your device. You can now do all that, better and faster, right on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

When a Software Update is available, you'll get a notification popup. The Settings app will also get badged, just like Mail. To get your update, go to Settings, tap on General, tap on Software Updates, and if it isn't there waiting for you, tap on Check for Updates. When you see the update, tap Install.

The firmware will download and then your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will restart and update.

Apple is now doing bit-differential, or delta file updates. That means only the bits that have changed need to be downloaded, not the entire firmware anymore. The update also happens in place, so you don't need to backup and restore your data. Much more efficient and hence much faster.

If you do still want to sync with your home iTunes library but don't want to have to tether to your Windows or Mac PC over USB, you now have the option to sync over Wi-Fi as well. Wi-Fi sync needs to be enabled in the Settings app, and you need to sync with iTunes over USB at least once to set it up, and you need to be plugged into power throughout, but if none of that dissuades you, Zune-like Wi-Fi sync is finally yours.

If you do choose to keep syncing with iTunes over USB, or you sync occasionally over USB to move over large files, like movies, you can now continue to use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad while syncing. (Previously unlocking your device would cancel the sync.)

Multitasking Gestures (iPad 2 only)

Back in iOS 4.3 Apple introduced Multitasking Gestures as a beta feature for developers to test. In iOS 5 they're back and they're for everyone. They include 4 or 5 finger multitouch navigation gestures that complement rather than replace the Home Button functions. They do, however, reduce the amount of times you need to single or double click Home, which could reduce concerns of hardware wear and tear post iOS 4 multitasking.

The new gestures can be done with 4 or 5 fingers and resemble multitouch trackpad gestures available on Mac OS X since the introduction of the original MacBook Air in 2008 and expanded upon in the recent Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. They currently include

• Pinch all fingers in to exit an app and return to the Home Screen (identical to single-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe up from the bottom bezel to reveal the multitasking Fast App Switcher Dock (identical to double-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe sideways from left to right or right to left to move between recently open apps (similar to double-clicking the Home Button to reveal the Fast App Switcher and tapping on an app icon immediately to right).

The sideways swipe is interesting in that it allows you to go left or right whereas the Fast App Switcher reorders the recent app icons so you always go backwards in "time" to the right. It seems perceptively faster for a single app-back movement since there's no carousel animation, yet you can only swipe back one app at a time whereas you can tap on any of 4 immediately available app icons in the Fast App Switcher and jump back 4 additional apps at a time.

Either way, once you get used to them they make moving around apps on an iPad 2 a breeze.

Siri (iPhone 4S only)

Siri is a natural language interface for iOS that combines powerful voice recognition (rumored to be powered by industry leader Nuance) and synthesized speech with a context-aware, artificially intelligent query and response engine designed to become your "virtual assistant". It replaces the previous Voice Control feature introduced with iOS 3 on the iPhone 3GS and is initiated the same way -- a long press and hold of the Home Button.

Siri launches as a beta and supports English (U.S., UK, and Australian), French, German. Apple urges users to talk to Siri the way they would another person, and to ask similar types of questions. Here's some of what Siri can do:

• Set up Reminders, Calendar appointments, and Clock alarms and timers.
• Send Texts, iMessages, and Emails
• Play Music
• Search for location based information like restaurant and business listings, and search for directions to locations
• Search Yelp (in the U.S.), Wolfram Alpha, and Google for information.
• Ask about Weather and Stocks
• Read your SMS/iMessage messages.
• Take dictation in any app.
• Silly questions. (Apple has actually programmed in funny responses to many of these.)

You can set relationships, so Siri knows who your spouse, parents, children, colleagues, etc. are, and even set a nickname for yourself so Siri knows what to call you.

More impressively, it can combine these functions together into interactions. Siri can read a message requesting a dinner date, search for a restaurant, get directions, send back a confirmation message, and add an appointment for the dinner, all as part of an interactive confirmation. Here are some examples of real-world things you can say to Siri.

• "Siri, remind me to call my mom at work when leave home." Siri will start a Reminder, set the departure location as your home address, determine which of your contacts is defined as your mother, and popup an alert to with your mom's work phone number ready to dial when you leave.
• "Siri, tell my boss I'll be there soon." Siri will get the contact that's defined as your boss, find the mobile phone number, and send her an SMS/iMessage with the content reading "I'll be there soon."
• "Siri, read my messages." Siri will read any new SMS or iMessages that have come in.
• "Siri, wake me up in 30 minutes." Siri will set a Clock timer that will go off In 30 minutes. (Hopefully when your nap is over.)
• "Siri, where can I get Italian for lunch?" Siri will search for nearby restaurants and show them to you on a map. In the U.S. it can also order them by Yelp ranking.
• "Siri, do I need a raincoat today?" Siri will check the weather, see If it's likely to rain, and let you know if you need to worry about Ig wet.
• "Siri, who starred In the movie Serenity?" Siri will search Wolfram Alpha and give you a cast list from the movie.
• "Siri, what's your favorite color?" Siri will give you one of several replies, likely that your language lacks the dimensions to properly describe the right shade of green.
• "Siri, tell me a joke." Siri might just start the one about the two iPhones that walked into a bar…

Siri will listen to and parse these and other questions, launch applications like Mail or Messages, search internet services like Yelp and Wolfram Alpha, and check the Weather or Stocks. It will then synthesize and speak a response, and if you ask a follow up question, it will remember the context and understand the next query and issue the follow up response accordingly.

Equally interesting is what it portents for Apple. Just like the App Store began the intermediation and exclusion of Google by offering users a better experience interacting with data in apps than via a web search, Siri continues it by theoretically making it easier and more enjoyable to engage in query/response with Siri than with Google. In typical fashion, Apple isn't building a search engine to compete with Google, they're building something to obsolete the current conception of search engines. And they're not doing it by becoming a walled garden -- there's no profit in that. They're doing it by becoming a walled gate with a multi-directional toll system.

Customer Insight is a hot industry topic for a reason -- if done well it lets you increase revenue per user, turn users into products you can sell to advertisers, and even turn suppliers into customers of their own data, and complementary and competing companies' data.

At least in theory. It remains to be seen how reliable and resilient it will prove when millions of new iPhone 4S users start pounding on it. Whether it's the best new feature in iOS 5 and the future of user input, or just the best new feature no one will use for input remains to be seen.

Note: Apple says additional language and feature support will be coming to Siri in the future.

In addition to Siri's query/response engine, it also includes speech-to-text functionality. This manifests as a microphone key to the left of the space bar that, when tapped, brings up an speech input interface. Talk, tap Done, and Apple will parse what you said on their servers and return text to built in apps like Mail or Messages, or any App Store app that supports keyboard entry, including Facebook, Keynote, etc.

Siri also understands symbols, punctuation and other special characters, like period and question mark, "open parenthesis" and "close square bracket", and "new line" and "new paragraph", provided you use their proper name.

Notifications

iOS 5 brings non-interruptive, less intrusive notification alerts to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Similar to how Android's notification tray works, or the basic functionality of the LockInfo Jailbreak app, it's perhaps not quite as elegant as webOS' system but it's a huge leap forward from iOS' previous implementation.

Notifications are presented in one of three different ways:

• Lock Screen Info
• Notification Center
• Notification Banners

All of the implementations show an icon of the app issuing the alert to the left and a brief except of the alert content to the right, but work in slightly different ways.

Lock Screen Info is the most complex of the three. When an alert comes in, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch wakes briefly from sleep to show you the notification.

• If it's a single notification, you get a single popup.
• If it's multiple notifications, you get a stacked list view.
• If it's a single notification but there have been previous unread notifications, you get a single popup but can view the complete list by swiping down from the time/date bar (a small gripper icon indicates when this is possible.)
• If it's a notification along with a secondary action, for example Snooze for an alarm notification, a secondary button will also appear for that action.

Touching and dragging the icon unlocks the device and sends you to the app to view the information. Unlocking the device clears all past notifications from Lock Screen info.

When your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is unlocked, Notification Center can be revealed by swiping downwards from the status bar. It can be dismissed by swiping back up from the small gripper icon at the button of the screen.

Notification Center proper brings widgets of a sort to iPhone and iPod touch, though currently only Apple's own Weather and Stocks app are enabled. Weather shows the current local or default temperature, hi and low, and precipitation, if any. Stocks shows a horizontally scrolling ticker of recent quotes and the delta changes since the previous close. Tapping on either one takes you to the full app.

Just like iPad has no Weather or Stocks apps, it has no widgets in Notification Center.

Beneath the widgets is the notification list. Each list is headed by the corresponding app icon and name to the left, and a far-too-tiny X icon to the right. Tapping the X icon clears all notifications for that app. Tapping anywhere on the alert will take you to the app to view the information. You can control which apps and how many notifications per app are displayed in Settings.

This is lightyears beyond where iOS notifications were before. Balancing the desire of power users for powerful notifications with the desire of casual users to avoid constant interruption is tricky. Notifications does a good job of it and it raises intriguing possibilities for the future. Developer access to the widget system, media controls in Notification Center as opposed to the Fast App Switcher, radio controls for fast Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabling/disabling like SBSettings perhaps? Apple values simplicity, but they're not afraid of hiding layers of sophistication beneath it.

Notification Banners appear appear briefly at the top of the screen whenever your device is unlocked, and are animated with a roll down, roll back up effect. Tapping a Notification Banner sends you to the app that issued the alert and shows you the information. While far less obtrusive than the old-style popup notifications, the Banners can still obscure information and cover buttons, and when they roll-down unexpectedly can cause you to accidentally tap them rather then the top bar or button you'd begun to tap. Hopefully, as Apple matures the notification system and developers update their apps to support iOS 5, this issue will diminish.

If they're really getting in your way, you can either touch, pull slightly, and flick them away, or swipe from right to left to dismiss them more quickly.

Note: Some apps will still default to old style popups to really get your attention, like Clock alarms and Calendar appointment alerts. You can manually assign your preference on an app-by-app basis in Settings.

Again, far better than what came before, yet there's room for more to come. For example, the ability to tap and instantly reply to Messages without having to leave the current app -- like BiteSMS?

iOS 5 also adds new accessibility features that allow the camera's LED flash to be used to signal notifications. Vibration patterns, including custom vibration patterns, can also be assigned and created to better identify incoming notifications, such as phone calls. These features are accessible in the Settings app.

Twitter

Twitter, the 140-character social network, has been integrated into iOS 5 at the system level. This means that everywhere you could previous Share content via Mail or Messages, you can also now choose to Share by way of a Tweet. Rather than handing you off to the official Twitter app, however, just like Mail and Messages are embedded views, so are the new tweet sheets. Just fill them out, choose if you want to add your location, and tweet away.

AirPlay Mirroring (iPad 2 and iPhone 4S only)

AirPlay was introduced with iOS 4.2 and allowed any video using Apple's standard media control to beam image and sound over a local Wi-Fi network to an Apple TV for viewing on the big screen. It was... limited in its initial release but iOS 4.3 brought increased support for Apple's Photo app and added support for 3rd party apps, and in general made it a solid, enjoyable feature. (Especially with on-the-fly transcoders like Air Video)

With iOS 5, Apple brings AirPlay Mirroring to iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. AirPlay mirroring lets iOS share it's screen, any screen of any app, to the Apple TV over Wi-Fi.

iPhone 4S and iOS 5 brings AirPlay mirroring to the iPhone. Because Apple decided against adding a dual core Apple A5 chipset to the 2011 iPod touch, that's now the only device left out in the cold when it comes to mirroring.

While on the surface AirPlay mirroring might not seem like a major feature, it allows the personal, intimate experiences of everything from gaming to FaceTime to become social, group activities, and allows videos and presentations to be shared by the whole family or entire meeting.

A keynote presentation projected in the boardroom, or a group of friends playing a big screen boardgames are just some of the obvious uses. As companies like Firemint continue to push the envelope with concepts like multiple-device-to-Apple-TV Party Play -- where iPhone 4S and iPad become controllers for group gaming, an a serious threat to traditional consoles in the casual space.

To activate AirPlay Mirroring, start the app you want to mirror, double tap the Home Button to bring up the Fast App Switcher, swipe across the media controls, tap the Air Play button, and select Apple TV as the source.

Dictionary

Previously embedded only in Apple's iBooks, with iOS 5 the entire system has access to a built in dictionary. Unfortunately, I'm lead to believe developers don't have access to it yet for App Store apps, but hopefully that will change in the future.

Keyboard (iPad only)

With iOS 5, iPad gains the ability to not only undock the keyboard and slide it up and down, but to split it apart into two half-keyboards for easier thumb-typing. Just touch and hold the Keyboard button at the bottom right of the keyboard to popup the dock/undock and split/merge menu, or just touch it at both sides and pull it apart or put it back together again. (Yes, it's very cathartic.)

Home Screen

Compared to iOS 4's Fast App Switcher and Folders, iOS 5 changes either transcend just the Home Screen (Notification Center's Lock Screen info) or blur the boundaries between Home Screen and app (Newstand). Still, there are a few additions that can probably be safely categorized under Home Screen.

Instead of Apps being installed one by one, multiple apps can now be downloaded and installed simultaneously.

iOS' already industry leading accessibility has been augmented with a gesture based control panel called AssistiveTouch that can reproduce all the functionality of the existing hardware buttons, and much more.

Once turned on in Settings, the control panel can be activated by tapping the overlay on screen. It pops up with a menu containing Gestures, Favorites, Devices, and Home. Gestures has a sub menu for 2, 3, 4, and 5 finger gestures, and once you choose a quantity, blue circles in the appropriate amount appear on screen. Favorites contains defaults like Pinch and Swipe, and any custom gestures you've created. Device replicates the hardware features such as Rotate Screen, Lock Screen, Mute/Unmute, Volume Up/Volume Up, and Shake.

While some may think this heralds Apple ditching hardware buttons, remember, you would still need a way to reset your device if it locks up, to turn off the ringer or change volume if it's in your pocket or purse, and to keep iOS accessible for children and people form whom the Home Button is easy and complex UI and gestures are a barrier to entry.

Still, this could turn out to be a very interesting addition to iOS 5, especially for advanced users who want to have a software-based interface. Most importantly, it shows that Apple -- who is already incredibly far ahead of the competition when it comes to accessibility -- is not slowing down.

Messages

The biggest change to Messages is one that's as almost invisible as it is profound. Messages began as SMS, an in the beginning only offered text message functionality. In iOS 3 internationally and iOS 4 in the US, Apple renamed is Messages and added MMS functionality. Now, in iOS 5, Apple has replicated the carriers' traditional cash cow by providing a method to send text and multimedia via iMessages -- securely encrypted -- over the Wi-Fi and cellular data networks.

Messages neatly handles both traditional SMS/MMS messages and iMessages, with iMessages integrated so seamlessly that only the color and faded text -- green for traditional SMS/MMS and blue for iMessages betray which is in use at any given time.

There is one large limitation to iMessages, however, and for some users it might be a deal-breaker -- it only works between iOS devices. That hasn't stopped BlackBerry's BBM from become a platform-locking success, but BBM has been around much longer and offers far, far more functionality.

That's not to say it doesn't have some BBM-like functionality. You can see delivery status and, if enabled in Settings, read receipts as well. You can see, via ellipses, when someone is in the midst of responding. Also, for users with limited text plans, especially expensive international text plans, and lots of friends on iOS, iMessage will be welcome.

Like FaceTime before it, iMessages uses an Apple ID-registered email address as a method of identification. This also means, like FaceTime before it, iMessages is available to iPad and iPod touch users. Yes, they get the iOS Messages app for the first time. Due to the data-centric rather than telephony-centric method of transmission, they can now send and receive iMessages from other iOS users when and where they never could -- and still can't -- SMS or MMS.

The interface conventions are a little different. iPhone has a single pane view, for example, so hitting the edit button in the contact list view lets you delete whole conversations and in the conversation view allows you to delete or forward individual messages (bubbles). On iPad, both contact list and conversations are visible at the same time so the edit button handles conversations and individual message managements is switched over, strangely, to the action button. (You can also pop up and edit contact info via the contact button, topmost right.)

However, it does mean users with more than one iOS device registered on the same iMessages Apple ID, they can start a conversation on their iPhone while out and about and continue it on their iPad when home on the couch.

In a nice touch, you can now swipe down to dismiss the keyboard and read your messages full screen.

Calendar

With iOS 5, the Calendar app gets a couple of new features that users have asking for for a while now, including new views, more consistent iOS-style navigation, and more direct touch-based interactions.

First, when in list, day, or month view on iPhone or iPod touch, turning to landscape orientation now gives you a week view.

On iPad, you now get a full Year view, complete with a color-coded heat map showing how busy your days are, from empty white days to blisteringly busy red days at opposite ends of the spectrum.

You can now also create a new event simply by touching and holding your finger down on the time (day view), or day (month view), or day and time (week view) you want to create it for, or in the all-day area (day or week view) for an all-day event. You can also touch and hold existing events to "float" them and drag them to new time time periods, or resize change (change start or end time to lengthen or shorten) using handles that appear at the top right and bottom left. The + button and edit buttons are still there and you can still use them, and you still have to fill out or change all the other information, but intuitively it's always felt like something we should have been able to done so it's nice to finally be able to do it.

Speaking of which, you can now swipe forward or backward to the next or previous day as well. Score one for perceived consistency.

iCloud also offers the ability to share calendars with family, friends, and associates.

Photos

Photos gets a ton of new functionality in iOS 5, partially to help iOS become "PC-Free". Instead of having to rely on iPhoto on your Mac, or image software on Windows, you can now do basic photo editing and album management right on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

While not specifically called out as part of Apple's iOS 5 "cutting the (iTunes) cord" initiative, the ability to create and manage photo albums directly on-device for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch helps achieve just that. No longer are you stuck with what you sync over via USB.

Now, by tapping the edit and then album buttons, you can add a new album. By multi-selecting photos and tapping Add To, you can move them between albums and from Camera Roll and Photo Stream (for iCloud) to albums.

Only Photo Stream pictures appear to be synced stored and pushed to all your devices, however, not the folder structure. That's a little disappointing. It would be great if whatever folder system you set up on your iPhone — family, friends, dogs, hawaii trip, etc. — would automagically be replicated on your iPad or iPod touch, but… baby steps.

Apple has also moved the powerful CoreImage framework from OS X to their mobile operating system, allowing the Photos app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to do some basic image editing work. Now, by tapping on the edit button at the top right, you get access to several iPhoto-like tools:

• Rotate, to turn your image in 90 degree increments
• Auto-enhance, which waves a magic wand and tries to balance your image
• Red-eye removal, so you can just say goodbye to flash-induced evil possession
• Crop, which lets you cut away the parts of an image you don't want, and includes all the standard presets.

As is the case with most built-in functions, it provides the basic set of tools but is by no means a feature complete photo editing app. Still, it's free, its bundled, and very many it will be good enough.

MMS has been replaced with Messages, and gone is MobileMe Gallery, but new to iOS 5 is the ability to tweet a picture (not video) to Twitter.

Photo Stream is part of iCloud and keeps the most recent photos from your Camera Roll, up to 1000 of them and for up to 1 month, in a special album that's stored up to Apple's servers and pushed down to your other iOS 5 devices. It can also stream photos to an Apple TV 2 without keeping any local copies, and will store all your photos, without limit of number and time, in iPhoto or Aperture on Mac, and on a Windows PC.

Think of it as a photo only (no video) duplicate of all the Camera Rolls of all your iOS devices -- including photos you've saved to the Camera Roll from email and the web -- all in one place.

Unlike Camera Roll, however, you can't delete photos from Photo Stream. That means if you take any risqué photos, or save anything risqué from email or the web, that's it. It's in your photo stream until 1000 other photos force it off, a month passes, or you disable photo stream.

Camera

Camera's updates don't just include the ones it inherits from Photos by way of Camera Roll integration -- it gets a lot of very convenient feature additions all its own.

First from the live Camera preview screen, you can now not only get to the Camera Roll and review your photos and videos by tapping the thumbnail button on the bottom right, but by swiping back as well. (No, you can't get to the live Camera preview screen by swiping forward from Camera Roll in the Photos app.) You can either swipe back to the live Camera preview or tap the redesigned, and much brighter blue Camera button.

Double clicking the Home button from the Lock Screen doesn't just bring up audio controls any more -- it also brings up a Camera button. Tap the Camera button and you're rocketed straight to the camera app, Passcode Lock or no Passcode Lock. (Though if you click the Home button from there, you're intercepted by the Passcode lock.)

HDR (high dynamic Range) has been moved into an Options button that takes it's place top center on the screen. When HDR is on, you now get a small text label above the Camera icon informing you it's on. That's a nice touch since HDR photos take a much longer amount of time to save and can lead to cursing if you're in a rush and take one accidentally.

Also under Options you now have the ability to turn on a 3x3 Grid overlay to help compose your shots.

The Zoom Slider isn't immediately apparent any more but you can now spread and pinch your fingers to zoom in and out, just as you do photos in the Photos app, and once you start zooming the old slider reappears.

Taking pictures and starting/stopping video recording has also become a lot easier in iOS 5, as you can now use the volume up button as a hardware shutter/recording button. If you plug in headphones, you can even use the volume up button on the headphones as a remote shutter/recording button.

While you could previously tap the screen to set auto focus and auto exposure, you can now tap and hold to lock both focus and exposure. Small text reading AE/AF Lock with appear above the Camera icon when enabled, and you can then move the shot around without it recalibrating. Tap the screen again to unlock.

iPhone 4S also gets both face recognition to improve focus and exposure for portrait shots, as well as video stabilization to help alleviate excessive shaking in your monstrous 1080p recordings.

Videos

The great sundering of the iPhone's traditional iPod app begins with Videos. That's right, while iPod touch and iPad have always had a separate Videos app, iOS 5 marks the first time iPhone has seen the same split between audio and visual content.

On iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, thanks to the powerful A5 processor, Apple has also enabled 1080p playback. (Though give the 1024x768 iPad 2 screen resolution, and the 960x640 iPhone 4S resolution, it's a bit of a waste -- though an eventual Retina display iPad at 2048x1536 or an Apple TV that could AirPlay 1080p could one day make it worthwhile.)

YouTube

YouTube gets little by way of updates this time around, but if you're a frequent Twitter user you'll be glad to know integration into iOS 5 means you can now tweet out links to your favorite videos.

Stocks (iPhone and iPod touch only)

Stocks now get "real-time" updates. Also, the Stocks you add in the app are also the Stocks that appear in the new Notification Center Stock widget. Add or remove a stock here and it will be added to or removed from a widget.

Maps

While Apple has purchased map-related companies like Placebase and Poly9, there's no obvious indication they've deployed them in Maps to anywhere near the extent they've deployed Siri. What they have done is continue to use the Google Maps backend and improve existing features and make them even more useful.

Maps can not only give you directions now, but they can provide you with alternate routes to your destination. The default route will be labeled Route 1 and highlighted, but if traffic or personal preferences make it less than desirable, you can tap an alternate route, for example Route 2, it will become highlighted, and the directions will switch to that route.

The Page Curl button now reveals the additional option to AirPrint your current map.

Weather (iPhone and iPod touch only)

For starters, Weather now hooks into the Notification Center widget system. Whichever place is your default in the Weather app is the one that will be shown in the weather widget. So, change the default location in the Weather app and you change the widget.

Rather than choosing your home town as the default location for Weather, and manually changing it if and when you travel, you can simply enable Location Services in Weather and your iPhone or iPod will detect and display the weather for where you are at any given time.

Note: I live in Montreal, but Local Weather keeps putting me in Ottawa. So, work on the trust but verify principle -- you may need to manually adjust if it Location Services gets it not quite right.

If daily forecasts weren't enough for you, if just know it would rain or snow but not when wasn't enough for you, iOS 5 weather adds hourly forecasts for the current day. Just swipe down and the rest of the week will fall away and hour-by-hour predictions will be revealed in their place.

Reminders

Reminders is the Apple task and todo app 5 years in the making. As with most built-in apps, the functionality is bare-bones -- it won't be replacing high end task managers any time soon -- but well executed. Interestingly, you need to have either iCloud and/or Exchange sync setup to use Reminders (or it sort of curls up and won't do anything.) Once you've enabled sync in Settings, iCloud will create a Reminders list and Exchange will create a Task list and you're in business.

The default view is your default list and you can swipe forward to see other lists, or back to get to the special Completed list. To mark a Reminder as completed, tap the box immediately to its left and a check will appear. To unmark it, quickly tap the box again. Completed Reminders will disappear from the regular lists and move to the Completed List. To move it back, tap the box to uncheck it.

Tap the Date button and you're taken to a Day view where you can view all your reminders for that date. You can swipe backwards and forwards to the previous or next day or use the iPad-style thumbnail scroller at the bottom of the page. Tap the Today button at the top right to return to -- you guessed it -- today. If you'd rather see a month at a time, tap the Month button at the top left. Days with Reminders are colored red. Instead of swiping horizontally between months, you can scroll vertically.

To create a new Reminder, either tap the + button on the right, or tap the next empty spot on the lined paper in List or Date view. Type a name for the reminder to create it. Unlike Calendar, which immediately pops up a page for you to enter additional information, you need to tap Done at the top right, wait for the Reminder to be created, then tap it to get to the Details page.

From the Details page you can edit the name of the Reminder, and set the Remind Me method. It defaults to the current day and time, but you can set the On Day to any future date (or turn it off), and you can also set At Location to create a geo-fence around a specified location that can be told to alert either When I Leave or When I arrive. You can either choose your Current Location, your default Work or Home locations, or Choose Address from your Contacts. (Unfortunately, you can't use an embedded Map to search for an address -- you have to have it in your Contacts first.)

A Reminder can have either a time or a location assigned to it, or both. Reminders will alert you when the time arrives or the location is triggered, whichever comes first. So you could use it to remind you to call home at 5pm, and/or to call home when you leave your office.

Note: only iCloud associated Lists can use location reminders. Exchange associated Tasks don't have that functionality.

You can also set the Repeat frequency, if applicable, and by tapping Show More, you can change the Priority, change the List the Reminder is filed under, and add any Notes you might need. To delete a Reminder, tap the Delete button at the bottom.

If you want to create new lists to help keep things organized (like a packing list, shopping list, project list, etc.) just tap the Lists button at the top left, then edit at the top right, the Create New List... beneath the account you want to add it too (if you have both iCloud and Exchange sync setup.)

You can also delete lists from this page by tapping the red circle icon, then the red delete button. You can re-order lists by grabbing the gripper icon to their right and dragging up or down. You can also search for reminders in any list here, which is good functionality but it feels like a strange place to put it. Creating a unified master page that collects all your reminders from all your lists, and allows search, feels like it would be a more useful and consistent way of handling it.

Clock (iPhone and iPod touch only)

Now you can pause the countdown timer.

Game Center

Game Center, Apple's answer to Xbox Live!, gets updates this time around where Ping, Apple's social music network, does not. Like several other iOS 5 updates, they round out the feature set and better integrate the app with Apple's store system.

First up, you can now choose to keep your profile private, in which case your real name won't be shared with Game Center friends. You can also add a picture or avatar to your profile, so you're visually recognizable.

You get to see other people's profile pics on the Friends page, along with a fanned out deck of friend recommendations, and the ability to sort friends by their achievement point total.

Games are likewise recommended, and you can buy them right inside Game Center via an embedded version of the App Store. It included no non-game apps, and no search, so it's limited but still convenient.

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Which begs the question -- will Apple continue this type of integration, similar to what they do in iBooks, and instead of a button in Music to take you to the iTunes Store, just embed the audio portion of the store in Music?

Newsstand

Newsstand is new to iOS 5 but isn't a new app per se. It's more like a permanent Folder than contains all your subscription magazine and newspaper apps. Tap the Newsstand icon and, just like for Folders, Newsstand opens up to reveal the apps inside. Instead of a dark linen background, however, you're greeted with iBooks-like wooden shelves. And instead of the usual app icon, you're shown the cover art or front page of the latest issue. Tapping a Newsstand magazine or newspaper app launches it the same as tapping any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad app.

A Store button at the top right takes you to a special section of the App Store where you can subscribe to your favorite magazines and newspapers, from Elle to The Economist, the New Yorker to the New York Times, Cosmo to Car and Driver.

Note: Individual apps have to be updated to support Newsstand. If they haven't been updated yet, they'll download to your Home Screen as they did before Newsstand. Sadly, the Newsstand Store doesn't indicate which apps have or haven't updated up front, you need to tap through an examine the release notes for each one.

iTunes Store

iTunes Store has been integrated with iCloud to provide functionality that was previously exclusive to apps and games in the App Store. However, most of this new functionality is currently only available in the US -- Apple is at the mercy of the record labels and Hollywood studios -- but will hopefully expand in the future.

iTunes -- in the US -- now offers the ability to re-download previously purchased iTunes music and TV shows without being charged again for the privilege. This isn't exclusive to iOS 5 mind you. As of a few months ago, re-downloads have been available in iOS 4.3 as well. (iTunes is a native wrapper around web views, so Apple can update it outside of the firmware.) However, this is as good a place as any to go over it.

Just tap the Purchased tab on the bottom of the screen and then choose which type of media you want to re-download. You can either view All your previous purchases or just the ones Not On This iPhone/iPod/iPad. You'll be given an alphabetical list of songs, topped by options for All Songs and Recent Purchases. All Songs can be further filtered by Most Recent, Song Name, and Artist Name. Tap the iCloud Download icon to start re-downloading.

Tapping the More tab and then Downloads will let you keep track of what's being pulled from iCloud, and tapping the Purchased button at the top right will send you to the Music or Videos app where you can also track the downloads and start listening/watching.

Note: To prevent piracy, you can't simply log into one iTunes account after another and re-download all the music from each account. Once your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is associated with an iTunes account, it can't be changed for 90 days.

iTunes Match is a supplementary iCloud service available for $25 a year. It's a music locker service that scans your desktop iTunes library and, if they're part of the 20 million strong iTunes catalog, immediately makes any songs you already have in your possession available to you in 256-bit AAC format. If they're not in the iTunes catalog -- if they're your favorite fringe Anime soundtracks, for example -- they'll be uploaded to Apple's servers in the existing format and quality.

Note: iTunes Match is currently in beta and listed as "coming soon".

Apple introduced the iTunes Ringtone store way back in 2008 alongside the first iPod touch. With iOS 5 Tones are no long restricted to phone calls and can be purchased in iTunes and assigned in the Settings app to a wide range of alerts, including Messages, Emails, etc. Same store, same prices, more places to use them.

App Store

App Store also gets integrated with iCloud, though in this case it's mostly new management, same great service. Like iTunes, the updates here aren't unique to iOS 5 -- Apple has rolled them out to iOS 4.3 users already -- but for convenience's sake, here's where we're going to cover them.

You could always re-download previously purchased apps at no additional charge from the App Store, but now Apple has created a better, clearer interface for doing it. Just tap on the Updates tab and you'll see a top-of-page option for Purchased apps. Tap it and you'll get a list of All your previously purchased apps in reverse chronological order. You can also tap the Not On This iPhone/iPad/iPod button to filter out app you already have installed. Tap the iCloud Download icon to start installing them.

Note: If you share an iTunes account with your significant other or kids, iTunes will now rat out any risqué purchases you might have previously been able to keep hidden...

In the other App Store sections, there's no more guessing as to whether or not you've already purchased an app. If you have, the price tag button is replaced with an Install button.

Settings

As is almost always the case, the greatest number of changes in iOS 5 appear in the Settings app -- it's where all the options for all the new system features, apps, and app features are to be found. Also, for the first time Settings gets notifications of its own. Any time a Software Update is pending, Settings will send you a popup and place a badge on its app icon.

Notifications now houses all the options for Lock Screen Info, Notification Center, and in-app Notifications. Up top you can choose to Sort Apps Manually or By Time. Below that are two lists, In Notification Center for apps that are currently enabled to send you notifications, and Not in Notification Center for apps you've disabled.

The Edit button gives you little gripper icons on the right hand side to let you re-order apps within either list.

Tap an app and you're taken to the individual Notification settings. For each app, you can toggle Notification Center on or off, choose to Show 1, 5, or 10 recent items, pick an alert style from None to Banners (new style) to Alerts (old style popups), and decide if you want to Badge the App Icon (the little red numbers on the top right), allow sounds (including vibration). You can also choose if you want to be able to see the alert in View in Lock Screen.

Note: Not all apps provide for the same options. For example, some apps have no sound alerts, so there's no option to enable or disable them.

Apple continues their emphasis on privacy by making Location Services far more granular. Not only can you globally disable them during initial setup, and toggle them all on or off in Settings, you can enable or disable each app on an individual basis, whether they're built-in like Camera or Maps or App Store like Facebook or TomTom. You can also tap through to System Services and enable or disable Cell Network Search, Compass Collaboration, Diagnostics & Usage, Location-Based iAds, Setting Time Zone, and Traffic.

Moreover a purple arrow icon to the left of the on/off toggle tells you if any app or service is currently using location, and a gray arrow icon tells you if any app or service has used your location within the last 24hrs.

Sounds also get far more granular, and more encompassing controls. In addition to Ringtones (iPhone only) and Text Tones (new to iPod touch and iPad), you can set tone for New Voicemail, New Mail, Sent Mail, Tweet, Calendar Alerts, and Reminder Alerts.

If you want to change one, tap it. At the very top of the tone page you have a handy button to take you right to the iTunes Tone Store (not just for Ringtones any more). You can then choose from None (no sound), or from a list of Alerts (previously Text Tones) and Ringtones.

Alerts now includes a Tweet Tone for the new Twitter integration. And yes, most Alerts are still inappropriate for the job for which they were intended -- let's hope they get shorter and snappier in the future.

While it may seem like a bit of an overlap to have alert sound on/off settings under Notifications and a None option in Sounds, it does increase discoverability for users.

Also, as part of Apple's outstanding Accessibility features, you can now set Vibration Patterns in addition to the standard Alert, including Heartbeat, Rapid, S.O.S., and Sympathy, and you can even create a Custom Vibration via the Create New Vibration tab.

Just tap the screen to create a pattern, stop it and play it back to make sure it's too your liking, and then hit Save. This way, if you can't hear individualized alerts, you can feel them.

In the About section, there's now a field for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad Name. Tap it and you can change it on-device.

Since iOS 5 has take iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad PC Free, instead of updating your firmware by connecting to iTunes on Mac or Windows, you can just tap Software Update and it will do it on-device. If there isn't an update ready and waiting for you, Settings will check for it. When an update is available, tap Install and it will begin to download. Settings will restart your device and apply the update.

Usage gets a big makeover, and far more granular and interactive controls. First, Storage is broken down on an app by app basis. You can see how much memory each app is using, and if you tap through, you can see what it's using it for, and even delete it if it's an App Store app. (If you don't see all your apps, just tap Show all Apps.)

iCloud shows off it's stats here to, and lets you tap through, you can Manage Storage just like you can from the top level iCloud Settings area proper (see below).

Cellular Data now requires you tap through to see Call Time, Cellular Network Data, and Tether Data (if your plan allows tethering.)

Once you've enabled iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, here's where you can check and see your last sync day and time, and manually tell your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to Sync Now.

You can now enable or disable Spotlight Search for Reminders.

Here's where Apple hides all the really impressive Accessibility features. Along with previous options, you can now toggle on Hearing Aid mode, turn on or off Custom Vibrations, have the LED flash go off to signal notification alerts, set Mono Audio left or right, set Assistive Touch, and set Triple-click Home.

If you tap through to Assistive Touch, you can toggle it on or off, toggle Always Show Menu on or off, set the tracking speed, tap through to Create New Gestuers, or delete Custom Gestures via the Edit button at the top right.

Triple-click Home can now be set to toggle AssistiveTouch.

iCloud shows you your current Account and lets you tap through to see the associated Apple ID, your current Storage Plan, and your Payment Information. You can buy more Storage right from this page if you want to.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, and Find my iPhone can be toggle on or off, as can Photo Stream but oddly you need to tap through to a separate page to do this. (Perhaps more options are coming in the future?) You also have to tap through to a separate page to toggle Documents & Data, but have the additional option to toggle Use Cellular on or off as well. (If you turn it off, you can save on data but will need to be on Wi-Fi to store/push your documents.)

Storage & Backup shows how much total storage you have available (every iCloud user starts off with 5GB for free), and how much you have available out of that total. You can Manage Storage, Buy More Storage (using your iTunes account), toggle iCloud backup on and off, and even start a Back Up Now (if you're on Wi-Fi).

Tap through to Manage Storage and you get a list of all your currently backed up iOS devices, along with the size of their individual backups. (You can Buy More Storage here as well). Tap a device name and you're taken to its info page which shows the device name, device type, the time of the Latest Backup, the Backup Size, and the Backup Options.

Backup Options predict the Next Backup Size and then lets you see the current size of each individual app's backup and toggle its backup state on or off. (If you don't see all your apps listed, tap the Show All Apps tab at the bottom.) You can also tap the big red Delete Backup button to remove that device's backup from iCloud.

All your accounts are listed here and tapping on one lets you toggle individual aspects on or off and set additional options.

If you have an iCloud account, tapping it here gives you the same options as tapping iCloud in its own settings tap. Again, more places means more discoverability.

If you tap into another account, like MobileMe or Exchange, and keep tapping into Advanced settings as deeply as you can, you'll find and be able to toggle on S/MIME support, turn Sign and/or Encrypt on, and pick a Certificate.

There have been a bunch of other small changes as well. For example, showing 25 mail messages is now gone and 1000 has been added.

Settings for Twitter include a handy button to grab the official Twitter app from the App Store, if it's not already installed. You can tap Add Account to get started, and you can add multiple accounts without a problem. You can even Create New Account if you don't have one (or enough) already.

For each account you can individually enable or disable Find Me by Email and Tweet Location. And you can use Twitter to update the info in your Contacts.

FaceTime was originally introduced in iOS 4 for iPhone using phone numbers as unique identifies. Later iPod touch and then iPad got FaceTime using Apple IDs as the identifier. Now in iOS 5, things go full circle and iPhone can use both phone numbers and Apple IDs for FaceTime.

You can now choose to have Safari open links In New Page (iPhone and iPod touch) or In New Tap (iPad), or In Background so you can stay on the same page/tab and go look at the new one only when you're ready. On iPhone and iPod touch you have to tap through and check your preference. On iPad, just a toggle.

Desktop Safari stalwart Private Browsing makes the jump to mobile as well. When you toggle it on or off, you'll be asked if you want to close all existing pages or tabs or leave them open. Since the point of Private Browsing is to turn off all cookies, caching, and tracking information so you can surf discreetly, closing existing pages and tabs is probably a good idea.

If you tap through the Advanced Tab, and into Website Data, you now get a list of websites that use HTML5 local storage to keep information stored on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (for example, Gmail.com so you can still access some recent mail when off of the network.) Not only can you see which sites have data on your device here, you can tap Edit to delete that data on a site-by-site basis or scroll to the bottom and tap Remove All Website Data to nuke every bit of it all at once whenever the mood strikes you.

With the addition of iMessage, the Message Settings now let you toggle the service on or off, and present the option to Send Read Receipts, so like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) you can let people know not only that you've received their iMessage, but seen it as well.

On the iPhone, because it also ties into your carrier's SMS/MMS service, you can choose to enable or disable Send as SMS for when iMessage is unavailable (say one of your writers has taken up with an Android phone for a week...) If you have both a decent text and data plan, leaving this on ensures smooth, uninterrupted messaging. If you've greatly reduced texts in lieu of iMessage, leaving this off means you don't risk hefty a la carte SMS charges.

You can also choose which Apple ID email address you want to use for iMessage (much like you can for FaceTime), and add additional email addresses if, for example, you want friends and family to reach you through a different channel than colleagues at work. (Or if you've just collected too many Apple IDs, lost track of who has which one, and don't want to miss anyone who might iMessage you on a whim.)

In Photos Settings, like in iCloud Settings, you can toggle Photo Stream on or off.

If iTunes in the Cloud is available in your local iTunes Store, you can not only re-download Music and iBooks just like Apps, but you can now set your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to automatically download any Music and iBooks, and Apps that you've downloaded on any other device or on iTunes desktop on your Mac or Windows PC. For example, if you buy All Along the Watchtower on your Mac, it'll start downloading to your desktop library but also start downloading on your iPhone and iPad. The same holds true for apps provided they're universal. So, if you buy Angry Birds HD on your iPad, it'll download to your desktop iTunes library, but not your iPhone (because you can't play iPad games on your iPhone). Likewise, buying an iOS version of an app or game doesn't cause your Mac to start downloading the Mac App Store version.

If you have several family members with widely different tastes all on the same iTunes account, auto downloading can get messy. If you're the only person on the account but you have a bunch of iTunes enabled computers and iOS devices, it can be miraculous.

On iPhone and iPad 3G, you can also choose to enable Use Cellular Data to automatically download purchases when away from Wi-Fi. If you have limited data, keep this off.

Phone

Phone has a number of new options in Settings, but in the app itself the major new feature is granular deletion of Recent Calls. You now get an Edit button at the top right and tapping it lets you go through and select and confirm individual calls for deletion.

Mail

Mail gets a bevy of new features in iOS 5 that bring it closer on par to a full desktop email client without losing the ease of use that characterizes Apple's multitouch apps. Everything, from formatting to function gets an update, and the built in dictionary comes along for the ride.

Have an email address in the To: field and think it really would be better off in the CC: field? Gone are the days of moving by way of deleting and retyping. Now just touch the address, it floats up, and you can drag it to just exactly where you want it.

Touch and hold to select as you would for copy and paste, and the popup menu now let's you tap an arrow to get to formatting commands. Bold, italic, and underline are all options, along with decreasing or increasing the quote level.

You can now Flag or Unflag messages to make important email stand out. It's been included alongside Mark as Read or Unread.

Speaking of Marking, you can now Mark multiple messages as Read or Unread using the same Edit controls that previously allowed you to Move or Delete them.

If you try to send an email and the Subject is left blank, iOS 5 will popup a warning.

You can now add mailbox folders directly on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Just go to the account you want to add a mailbox folder to, tap Edit up top, then New Mailbox at the bottom, and enter the name you want to use. If you want to make it a subfolder, just tap the account name and you'll get a list of parent folders.

You can also tap the Edit button, choose a folder, and then change the name, change the parent folder, or even tap the Delete button to remove it from existence.

Safari

Several of Safari's new features seem designed to allow users to consumer web articles faster, easier, and more elegantly than was previous possible on mobile devices. But at the same time, Safari for iPad behaves more than ever like a desktop browser.

Safari Reader uses, in part, the open source version of Readability to re-render web articles text on a white background with big, legible text, and free from ads and other distractions that typically clutter up the 'net. Just tap the Reader button at the top right of the address bar and Reader will slide in and take right over. To make it go away, tap the (now purple) Reader button again.

For hard-to-read sites, or those that have double-underline popup punch-the-monkeyed their souls to the monetization devils, Reader comes in really handy.

Reading List is a special type of bookmark that lets you quickly save a web article to read later. The combination of being easy to add and easy to find, and iCloud-powered sync across iOS and Mac OS X Safari browsers, makes it useful as far as it goes.

To save a page, tap the Action button and then tap Add to Reading List. To retrieve a page, tap the Bookmarks button and from the top level, tap the Eyeglasses icon or the Reading List label at the top.

But even taken together, while nice to have as built in features, they're not a serious replacement for Instapaper.

The less than ideal pop-over previously used to show the Mail list in iPad has been replaced with a slide-on, slide-off panel. It looks better but is a little harder to put away at time.

The Nitro JavaScript engine, brought to Safari in iOS 4.3, has also been pushed out to Web.app, the service that allows web apps to be bookmarked to the Home Screen. That means all web pages now enjoy the 2x software speed boost Nitro previously only provided Safari, and Apple continues to provide the most powerful HTML 5 support in mobile.

While iPhone and iPod touch retains their customary Pages system to manage moving between multiple active web pages, iPad gets the full desktop treatment courtesy of tabs. And they work just as you would expect. Tap the big + button on the right to add a new tab and the tiny X icon on the tabs far left edge to close it.

Also like desktop Safari, touching and holding the Forward or Back button will now open a History popover.

Music

While iPod touch always had a separate Music app, iPad had a separate music app named iPod, and iPhone combined both video and music into a single iPod app. No longer. Whether Apple is winding down iPod as a brand -- they didn't update any of the iPod line of devices this year -- or simply creating consistency across iOS devices, the iPod app is dead. Long live the Music app.

Music gets a face lift in general, with a new look to most of its views. The most impressive of which is the inclusion the download indicators for songs either freshly purchased or in the process of re-downloading thanks to iTunes in the Cloud. There's also a new Store button at the top right so you can quickly get to the iTunes Store to buy or download more content.

In previous versions of iOS, long names were cut off. That meant, for example, if you wanted to find one of a dozen or more chapters in an audio book, it was a guessing game. (Tap. No, not 9-16. Tap. No, not 20-22. Where's 25, frakdammit!) Now you just tap and hold and the full information pops up, making it easy to pick the right one. It works for most fields, track name, artist name, album name, etc. Again, a small addition but a helpful one.

Contacts

Contacts gets a relatively minor addition in iOS 5 -- pun intended. You can now add a new field called Related People, and set it to mother, father, parent, brother, sister, child, friend, spouse, partner, assistant, manager, or other. You can then type in a name or choose from an another existing Contact.

Pricing and Availability

iOS 5 will be available as a free update for all supported devices on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Although not all features are supported on all devices -- or all generations of all devices -- iOS 5 can be installed on the following:

• iPhone 4S (2011)
• iPhone 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPhone 3GS (2009, 2010, and 2011)
• iPod touch 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPod touch 3 (2009)
• iPad 2 (2011)
• iPad (2010)

Should you upgrade?

Yes, absolutely and immediately with 2 caveats. First, if you're on older hardware like iPhone 3GS and you're reading this just as iOS 5 becomes available, you might want to wait a few days and make sure there aren't any reports of excessive sluggishness or other issues. Second, if you're Jailbroken and rely on certain features, and don't like tethered Jailbreaks, you might want to wait until a nicely packaged iOS 5 Jailbreak for your device is released (iPad 2 and iPhone 4S might take a while.)

Otherwise this is a fantastic update with incredible new functionality -- and it's free. What are you waiting for? It will make you feel like you have a while new device.

Conclusion

Almost everything about iOS 5 feels broader and better, and not only more functional, but more personal and more tactile as well. Apple has added more granular levels of control to things like Location Services and Data Storage, so you can keep private what you want to keep private and delete what you want to delete. They've also added more direct touch manipulation to the UI with Multitasking Gestures on iPad 2 apps like Calendar and Mail, so the interactions are viscerally intuitive. At the same time they've the social, sharing aspects of iOS with services like AirPlay and apps like Find My Friends. It's a clever balance. So is the interface, which Apple has kept as accessible for novice users as it was in iOS 1 in 2007, and yet added ever greater layers of complexity for power users, including Fast App Switcher in 2010 and Notifications in 2011. For my sister, an iPhone or iPad can just make calls, play music, watch videos, and take photos. For me they can increasingly do almost anything.

And then there's Siri. I've already written about what it might mean for Apple in the customer insight space. What it means for users is perhaps even more profound. It's a whole new interface for computing and the next step in Apple's relentless attempt to make technology ever more mainstream. From CLI on Apple II to GUI on Mac to multitouch on iPhone to Siri on iPhone 4S, Apple continues to tear down barriers of entry and reset expectations not about what we can do with devices, but about what they can do for us.

There are still things to complain about if you come from other platforms and miss specific features or have specific needs. Faster access to radio toggles. Quick message previews and responses. A Theme Store in case the 5-year old UI is starting to look a little less than fresh. A Files app that handles documents the way Photos handles images and videos. But with each version the list in undeniably growing shorter.

Still, it's hard not to think about Steve Jobs at this point, and his standing beneath that giant slide showing the crossroads of technology and liberal arts, and see iOS 5 in the context of that vision. The man who was inspired by calligraphy to make elegant digital typography and lick-able interfaces has begun to obsolete them with voice. But that was his way and it remains Apple's way. Future thinking and fearlessly so.

Some rough edges remain, and there will be an iOS 5.1 and iOS 6 after it, but iOS 5 is still beautiful and we can use it to make our devices and our lives better.

According to Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, Apple has added face detection API in iOS 5. Apple had previously used face detection on the Mac for everything from iPhoto's Faces feature to OS X Lion's advanced PhotoBooth effects, and along the way bought the company behind it, Polar Rose.

So while we might see the built in iOS PhotoBooth get the same feature boost as Lion, we could also see other novelty apps, and games, and perhaps one day facial recognition for security. ("Oh, hi Steve. Unlocking your passwords now.")

It looks as if iOS 5 may still be coming packed with the rumored Nuance VoiceOver technology even though it wasn't given an official mention during Monday's WWDC keynote.

If you look closely at the image above presented during the iOS 5 portion of the keynote, you'll notice a few interesting tidbits pertaining to iOS VoiceOver integration.

• VoiceOver action support
• VoiceOver item chooser
• Option to speak text selection

This implies that Apple and Nuance may not have been fully prepared to show off their iOS 5 VoiceOver system in time for the keynote, but that it's still in the pipeline and should be ready to go this fall when iOS 5 drops. It's unclear whether Apple will allow 3rd party apps to take advantage of these new features or if it will only extend to system apps.

What do you think, will we see Nuance/SIRI VoiceOver technology baked-in to iOS 5 or are we just wishful thinking?

Last night @musclenerd posted a tweet saying that iOS 5 has indeed been jailbroken using the limera1n exploit. In his tweet he posted a picture of an iPod touch 4 Springboard with the Cydia icon placed nicely on it.

The full jailbreak story after the break!

The Apple keynote ended less than 24 hours ago, and the iOS 5 beta dropped to developers in even less time and the devs have already managed to jailbreak the firmware. According to @musclenerd, Cydia runs smoothly. This, however, is a tethered jailbreak and there is no word on when the tool will be released. So, if you are already jailbroken on a previous firmware, stay there, do not upgrade to iOS 5 beta 1 if you like your current jailbreak.

What do you all think of this? The jailbreak came quick, but do you think Apple will fill the hole in a new beta of iOS 5? Let us know in the comments.