Hello fellow nerds! D.S. here to talk today about the new iOS 5 for iPhone that's gained so much talk over the past few months. I have it, and I'm here to give you my pair of pennies on it.
So to start, I've only had iOS 5 for a few days now and I must say I'm not overly impressed right off the bat. That's not to say I don't like it, but I feel like the hype may have not been worth it. Those who know me, know I'm an Apple fanboy through and through (I have a Macbook Pro as well). However, I also know how to be non-biased when it comes to constructive criticism which is why I say I'm not so impressed.
So initially, I was hesitant which is why I waited a week or so before getting the iOS 5. I'm not one to immediately jump on a bandwagon simply to say I did. I heard talk of people having their whole memory wiped from the phone and they had a hard task of retrieving everything. I'm not a huge fan of drastic change so this made me pull back and contemplate what to do. I'm not sure if Apple fixed the glitch or if it's because they weren't using Apple computers to update to iOS 5 but in either case, I was and had absolutely ZERO trouble with it. The two Apple devices worked hand in hand by backing up all my files, downloading the new iOS, installing it, and reloading all my info. The whole process took just over an hour. I have the 32 gig white iPhone 4 and it's about 50% full so I can assume if you have less stuff on your phone, it'll take significantly less time.
The new "Notification Center." I knew it existed but was a little confused by it at first. Swipe from top? What do I swipe? There's no arrows or marker to signify it's there. So I just gave it a shot (feeling sort of stupid mind you) and voila! There it is. Complete with weather for my area, rolling stock ticker, and any notifications I haven't checked. Interesting. Now I know all the anti-Apple freaks out there are saying "Droid/Windows/etc already has that." Touché. While that's true, Apple has never really "invented" any new technology, but they do make what's there, easier.
Notifications on the lock screen. This I like. Again, Apple isn't the first on this front but yet again, it's so easy and liquid smooth. Unlock the specific notification and you're taken directly to it. Love that! Moving on…
The camera. So much was added to the camera and being that I have a Macbook Pro, I'm not sure I needed some of it. Like editing on the phone. Sure, I suppose on the go it's good to have a little bit of editing there but it's just enough editing to piss you off. Red eye, crop, and auto-enhance. That's it. I feel like Apple fell just a wee bit flat on this. So, for me, I'll stick to using photoshop and just continue posting pictures I've taken directly to Facebook or what have you with the assumption that most of my "mobile uploads" are unedited. Using the volume button to snap a pic I love! Because it makes the iPhone feel more like an actual camera. When trying to "MySpace" the photo, it's easier to click a button (more natural feeling) than touching the screen in my opinion. Pinch for zoom should've been a no-brainer from the beginning, but whatever, it's still cool.
iMessage. Not much to say about it really. It's just a "free" way to message people without using your minutes. I was lucky to be grandfathered in on the unlimited plan before it became a "well… you have to pay more" nonsense. So iMessage is cool but doesn't really concern me one bit.
Newstand. I don't like digital copies of magazines. Not sure why but I just like being able to flip through it with my actual hands and not my finger. Call me old fashioned on this one but I might just be deleting this icon altogether.
Videos and music are now separated. I dislike this… a lot. It's one of those things I was so comfortable with and now they're in two locations. Why the change? I was happy with it right there.
Siri! The talk of the town. The technology that's older than the phone itself and now proprietary to Apple iPhone 4s! You've heard all the rave and the hype and it's now here… and I don't have it so I can't really comment on it. I know, lame right? Well, fact is, Apple (in all their infinite wisdom) have made it such that Siri is ONLY available on the iPhone 4S. Silly but it's going to sell more 4S's for them so a pat on the back for them for making their products desirable for certain features. I'm self-convinced that Siri will make it to iPhone 4 based iOS 5 and the lower tiered products soon enough. I give it 6 months tops before I'll have the ability. "But you need the A5 processor chip to make it run." Well… not really. Apple says that because they want you to buy their latest and greatest phone. Truth is, before Apple acquired the Siri name, it was available on any platform and they were developing it for Android and Windows phones. However, once acquisition was in place, that was halted. So don't blame Apple, Siri had a price and Apple found that price.
That's pretty much it for now. As mentioned, I've only had the new iOS for all of 2 days so I really haven't been able to get much use of the new system. Perhaps in a month I'll report back with any new things I've found or love/hate. For now, though, that's really all I have to say about it. If you feel like I missed something huge and need to add it, feel free to comment!
This is D.S. from Nerdware, signing out!
