Sunny With A Chance of iCloud

Oct. 12 finally rolled around and at last Apple Computers released the newest entry into its mobile device operating systems, iOS 5. As reported by Apple, iOS 5 is packed with over 200 new features and improvements.

Was it worth the wait?

I recently downloaded the new iOS onto my iPhone 4 and iPad to test out all the supposed updates. Here are my reviews of a few of the largest changes to iOS.

One of the biggest features to iOS 5 is the addition of the notifications center. No longer will you be playing a game or watching Netflix when a text message interrupts the flow of the action.

All notifications whether they be from SMS messages, to Facebook and Twitter updates will be stored in the notifications center which is accessed by swiping down your from the top of you iOS device with two fingers.

The notification center lists every notification from all of your applications. It also shows current weather conditions (based on the GPS signal from your device), and stock market trends.

The new notification center is a vast improvement over the constant interruptions from the old notification system. It has definitely taken some getting used to but it is well worth the effort to understand how the updated system works.

Another new exciting addition is updating of the Camera app. Your camera will now take better pictures by turning on the new grid. The grid will let you line up your images better, producing professional looking shots.

The camera app has also added photo editing. This is really good news for those of us who don’t want to have to crop, enhance, or change our pictures through our computers. You can fix red eye, crop the picture down and even use the “magic” enhance tool to improve color and brightness.

Apple has been touting its biggest advancement to the iOS system, iCloud. This virtual “cloud” will automatically back up your music, photos, calendars, documents, emails, and bookmarks periodically throughout the day. That means no more plugging your iOS device into a computer anymore! Your personal things can now be remotely accessed from iCloud on any iOS device or computer.

iCloud offers 5GB of storage space for free while offering larger space options at a premium cost.

Along with iCloud backing up everything on your devices, updates will now be pushed wirelessly to your device. This means that iOS devices will never have to be plugged into a computer again. If you go out and buy an iPad you will not have to sync it to a computer before use! It can be turned on and used straight out of the box.

While iOS 5 didn’t bring about any changes to the user interface (like iOS 4 did last year) it has brought with it some incredibly useful additions and updates. With the ability to wirelessly manage your devices, users will no longer feel “tied-down” to their computers. New notifications are more streamlined and easier to manage and built-in cameras have been advanced to the point where they can compete with real digital cameras.

With the passing of Steve Jobs (the former CEO and co-founder of Apple Computers) it remains to be seen what will happen to this company. But if they continue to refine and enhance the amazing devices they currently offer, this company is sure to continue its trend of dominating many markets worldwide.