What to expect from Apple’s iOS5

Apple's newest mobile operating system is just round the corner and it now incorporates features that have been demanded by users for a long time. ET takes a look at some of the biggest improvements that iOS5 is expected to deliver to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad 

Improved Browsing 

iOS5 brings much-needed improvements to Safari and Mail. Safari will have a reading list to save any article and read it later. The list is automatically synced among your devices. Reader on Safari reformats a site on the fly removing ads and formatting the text to make it easier to read. Tabbed browsing will also be available making it easier to switch between multiple pages. 

Twitter Integration 

Apple has deeply integrated Twitter into iOS5. Just sign-in with your Twitter ID once and you will be able to tweet directly to your timeline from within apps - links from Safari, images from Photos or camera and location from maps. The contact list will also have a Twitter field so that the address book can be updated with your Twitter followers list. This will make it simpler to mention your friends in a tweet or send direct messages. 

Better Photography 

If you love the camera on your iPhone, you'll love that you no longer will have to unlock the phone and click on camera to start the app - you can launch the camera directly from the lockscreen in iOS5. iOS5 will also allow you to use the volume up key as the shutter key. Some basic editing is also possible now from within the app to enhance photographs, including red eye reduction and cropping. 

Music 

The iPod app will be replaced by an all-new Music app on the iPad. Playlists will be shown as vinyls and albums will look much better in contrast with the background. Some added features include real-time search, an animated 'now playing' screen and a tabbed interface for quick navigation. Apple will also allow you to remove songs directly from the iOS device. 

Easier Typing 


With the integrated Dictionary, all iOS devices will show a pop-up menu when you use the selection tool and select a word. In the popup menu, If you select 'define', a definition of the word will come up, irrespective of what app you're running. On the iPad, the keyboard can be split in half for easy typing using thumbs - you will be able to set it at any level on the screen, which makes it easier to type across various forms/sites. 


iMesssage 


iMessage to iOS is what BBM is to BlackBerry. It will deliver real-time push messages to other Apple devices over Edge/3G or Wi-Fi. You can share photos, videos, location & contacts. It also supports group messaging & if you have multiple devices, you can start a conversation on one device & continue on another. 


Newsstand 


Newsstand will organise all news and magazine subscriptions in one place. You have the option to buy new subscriptions from within the Newsstand app while the App Store itself will be updated with a dedicated place to view all available subscriptions. Any new subscriptions are automatically moved to the newsstand app on purchase/download. The app will also display alerts to indicate that new content has arrived. It's not clear yet whether all subscriptions will be available in India. 

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