Apple announces new iOS 5 for iPhones and iPads

Here at e2save, we have been waiting with baited breath to hear the announcements made by Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs and other executives at the World Wide Development meeting. After the initial announcement, we were aware that they would be talking about the new iOS X Lion for macs, iCloud and the new iOS 5 for iPhones and iPads.

After CEO Steve Jobs took the stage and said, “If the hardware is the brain and the sinew of our products, then software is their soul. Today we’re going to talk about software; Lion, iOS 5 and some interesting cloud stuff”, it was left to Phil Schiller to talk about OS X Lion and then over to Scott Forstall to shed some light on what we’ve been so excited about, the new iOS 5.

The new iOS 5 presents more than 200 new features, many of which people have been hoping and wishing for since the Apple iPhone and iPad first launched, to fill in the gaps that some might say, left them behind other operating systems like Android and webOS. Well, judging from what came out of the first day of the conference, Apple have certainly delivered.

If you’re as excited as us, then here’s a rundown of some of the new features it has to offer all iPhone and iPad lovers:

Notifications: With the new Notifications Centre, you will get a single screen full of all your notifications from missed calls, Facebook and updates, all easily accessible with one swipe of the finger.
Newsstand: All your app subscriptions from magazines to newspapers are kept in one accessible folder. Every new purchase goes straight into the folder and any updates are done automatically in the background with the latest covers.

Twitter: This has been made more user friendly through things such as single sign in using settings, photo and video integration and location integration using your photos, maps and YouTube.
Reminders: It lets you make to-do lists to organise your life, but with a difference. You can associate times and locations to these reminders so your iPhone or iPad will remind you if you move out of this location without completing your task.

Safari: Safari reader displays web articles to read with no distractions. iOS 5 improves Safari performance across all iOS devices.

Camera: The new iOS 5 lets you access your camera app from the lock screen and you can use the volume buttons to capture the picture at a moment’s notice. Also new to the camera are optional gridlines, pinch to zoom, and in camera editing with one click enhance, red eye removal, rotate and crop.

Mail: You are now able to format text with rich bold, underlined and italic fonts. There’s draggable addresses, an indentation control and loads of other great new features.

PC Free: With this you no longer need a Mac or PC to own an iPad or iPhone, you can simply set up and activate your device wirelessly. Backing up and restoring your device automatically is done through iCloud leaving you to do much more with your device with peace of mind.

iMessage: This now includes delivery reports and read receipts. You can send unlimited texts via 3G or Wi-Fi and even start a conversation on one iOS device and pick up the conversation again on another.

Phew! With all that going on, we’re sure that you won’t be disappointed. Well done Apple!