The early version if apple iOS launched back in 2007. In that time it was very inferior mobile operating system, yet could service due to the famous trade mark apple, smooth user interfaces and exceptional hardware like iPhone. There were lots of limitations in the operating system. Basically it could not handle two applications at the same time while basic version of Nokia OS could do it. Your Skype mobile client goes off when a call or SMS comes which was very annoying.
No matter what technology and creativity never end and fly through obstacles, especially Apple Inc. Down the time they manage to upgrade the iOS to compete with other available mobile operating system. In version 4.0, they manage to introduce many significant features including multitasking for 3rd party application, JAVA Scrip support and Wi-Fi multimedia streaming.
With those features iOS became a huge threat to other mobile operating system and sometimes it could dominate very old market empires. Symbian OS, HP WebOS (previously palm OS) and Windows Mobile OS like giant were moved with the improvement of Apple iOS. In 2011 June Apple announced the latest iOS 5.0 comes with lots of amazing features and it was launched in October. This OS initially came to the market with Apple iPhone 4S. It’s a good time to take a look in to effect that iOS 5.0 made to the mobile device world.
New Features
Notification Center
The notification canter is one of the main components in any Mobile OS not just in iOS. Previously the way it used to give the notification was not user-friendly and sometimes it was disturbing to the currently running application. In iOS 5 they have redesign it. The notifications come at the top of screen and disappear very quickly. In the case you need to see entire list of notification you can swipe the top edge of the screen. Further, when the screen is locked the list of notification displays and you can respond to them easily. You can configure the notification center to display the desired items the ways you want including news, weather etc.
iMessaging
This is a brand new messaging service only for iPhone and iPad users who are using iOS version 5. This is providing the facility for you to send text messages through 3G or Wi-Fi based data networks. The text messages are displayed in usual threaded design. You are free to send any type of content including text, images, video and many more. If you need group messaging it’s possible through this application. Its really cool that application keep the messaging history, so you can re join the conversation which you did maybe sometimes ago. To ensure the maximums security of your message which going to be transfer through a public network, the application uses advanced encryption algorithm.
Camera and Photos
iOS 5 provide many new features to iPhone camera. Manly it has made the access easy. From the lock screen you can directly go to camera without unlocking it. So you will never miss an unforgettable moment. Additionally it provides grid lines, to align objects in your frame, tap focusing and zoom in and out gestures. Normally iPhone camera decides the optimum exposure to the frame. But if you are moving rapidly through areas with different light, it doesn’t work well enough. To solve that problem, iOS 5 provide exposure lock to iPhone camera, which is a feature comes in professional cameras. And you have a hardware button, which is volume up button to capture a frame which is way better than previous touch screen virtual button.
The photo viewer of iOS 5 provides on screen photo editing. You can do basic editing while you watch the photos like Auto enhancement which correct, exposure, blacks and color balance intelligently, cropping and red eye reduction. This is really helpful for frequently traveling people, especially for e journalists. They can capture the photos on sight, then edit them right there in iPhone and upload them to web site or social media applications.
PC Free
With previous versions of iOS it requires a computer which connected to internet to setup the device for the 1st time. In other words, if you want to own an iPhone, before that you must own a PC or a MAC. But with the iOS 5, it has made the iPhone and iPad independent. The device itself can connect to internet right out of the box and download latest updates of iOS through any data service. Same with the 3rd party applications, the device itself can connect to internet and download them. When it comes to your images, emails and contact like content, again you don’t need a PC or MAC since you have online storage, iCloud comes free with iOS 5.
iCloud
iCloud is one of the interesting feature that comes with iOS 5 and it’s totally free. It’s a online storage where you can sync all the data in your device. Hence you can use the same data in many devices after successful login. This service is integrated with multimedia contents like images and videos.
Ex: Once you take a photo you push that in to iCloud and you can access the same photo in another iOS 5 powered devices without extra effort.
With this service you will never miss any data if you are using many iOS powered devices. iOS comes with new email client that is also powered with iCloud, so you can access your mails with any iOS device. Same service could be used to sync and back up calendar entries and reminders too.
Other
To support the booming trend of social media iOS 5 has included the twitter application built in. Good news for twitter junkies! Gestures were introduced in previous version of iOS as well and iOS 5 has come up with more full hand gestures to make the device more usable. iOS is probably the most used mobile OS for gaming. So there is an upgraded gaming center in iOS 5. AirPlay was introduced in some previous version though this version iOS 5 support HD video mirroring through Apple TV. This will be a cool feature for professionals who planning to use iPhone and iPad for presentations. Location alert in reminders is another cool feature, which let you set a reminder which triggers not in specific time, but in specific place using GPS.
Other than visible features, there are various optimization of source code which of course no one knows for sure except Apple development team. The optimization are having the target of utilizing the battery power when heavy processes are going and utilize the processing power when multiple tasks are running.
All these features have extended the usability of iOS powered devices to initiate new trends and open whole lots of possibilities.
New Trends and Possibilities
Business Usage
Even in the early stage of iPhone some of the businessmen were using it to monitor and control their business through custom made applications. With the arrival of iPad this trend hit the roof due to the extended usage of iPad, specially its big touch screen. Introduction of iOS 5 has open more possibilities for the businessmen to use those devices more effectively. Mainly iCloud provide online platform to manage data and make them portable which comes handy for any professionals. You have your emails, calendar entries, to do list and other files wherever you go. With the improvement of mail clients, calendar application and new reminders, those made possible. With the performance optimization in core OS, they can trust the device for time critical online application like Stock trading. With new Notification center, you can easily configure it to display the status of stock market.
Communication
No matter what, the main purpose of any mobile device would be communication. I have mention many times before as well, conventional communication mediums like voice calls and SMS are less discussed subjects today, yet they are the most used. iOS 5 provide seamless integration of front camera to give excellent video conferencing experience to users. Further new iMessage general users can communicate through data service with much lesser cost. As always iMessage and SMS are having threaded discussion mode. And there is a new feature Newsstand let you manage your online subscription to various news sources.
Social Media
Social media is always made easy with iPhone and iPad. The increasing number of mobile social media users proves it today. Facebook applications came built in with previous version of iOS and now twitter application also comes with iOS 5. Using these applications provides more features that conventional web interface and let you utilize the full power of the device. With the new features in camera, we will be able to see more social photos uploaded to social media sites. And new image viewer provide on screen photo editing, color correction, cropping and red eye reduction. Users will be able to edit the photos, right in the device before they upload them to social media, without help of a PC or MAC.
Optimization and Continuation
The development of iOS is always backed by its previous success and version 5.1 beta is already out for developers. It’s expected to be containing with many more cool features. In next releases of iOS I expect it to be more performance tuned and more importantly less battery power consuming, unlike the previous version. Most of the users were complaint about the battery drain in iOS versions when they work with many applications at the same time. At the same time developers will have to keep a track on memory foot print, which was not a huge problem in iOS so far, yet highly complained issue in Android Mobile OS. When they increase features in iOS and make it ready for 3rd party applications they might face the same problem. Looking forward to take a look at the iOS 5.1 and wishing all the best for Apple iOS developers.
Tags: #Apple #iOS #Smartphone