Apple iOS 5 Review
by Vivek Gowri, Andrew Cunningham, Saumitra Bhagwat & Brian Klug on October 18, 2011 3:05 AM ESTIn iOS 5, we see Apple taking what some competitors have done better and implementing them in its own way. The parallels between iMessage and BlackBerry Messenger are impossible to ignore, same with the new iOS notifications and Android’s pull-down notification shade. iCloud brings cloud-based information and data storage to iOS, something that has always been one of the cornerstones of Android. Between the new feature-completeness and the new UI refinements, iOS 5 ends up being more polished, more convenient, and more useful than it has been in any previous iteration.
There are a few larger themes to note with this release. Apple is starting to realize what is possible with the iPad’s larger screen, with the emphasis on gestures for OS navigation and tablet-friendly UI refinements. In iOS 5, they’re pretty low-key, but this has the potential to be a big influence on the UI/UX design going forward. I’m excited to see where Apple goes with this in the future. The other trend here is Apple’s continuing march towards turning iOS into a fully PC independent platform. iOS users now have more control over the OS, with untethered device setup, wireless software updates, wireless sync, and even simple things like removing songs and making new folders for photos, all capable without the device ever being plugged into a PC. In fact, since updating to iOS 5, I have yet to plug my iPad into my iTunes machine. Apple is using iOS to try and usher in the Post-PC era, and this is the first serious shot at it. At this point, someone with light computing requirements could conceivably have an iPad as their only computing device and get away with it. Considering where we were just two years ago, when saying that about any UMPC-like tablet would have gotten you some really funny looks, this is truly impressive.
Despite the PC/Mac independence however, there's another very important unifying aspect to iCloud: it makes adding and adopting new Apple products even easier. If you're already a Mac user it'll make the move to an iPhone or iPad more seamless, and the same works in reverse. I should also add that if Apple simply develops an iMessage client for OS X (or ideally, opens it up for third party developers to use) then it will have a messaging service that works over IP and can follow you across smartphone, tablet and Mac. Tie in FaceTime (and perhaps an audio-only equivalent?) and you've got a powerful communications platform.
Apple still has relatively small marketshare in the grand scheme of things (% of total computers and total phones sold), making iCloud a clear play to convert some of the non-Apple users. It's a very smart strategy, one that can influence users to remain within the Apple product family rather than look elsewhere for their needs. It's very reminiscent of Microsoft from the 1990s, but in a far more consumer focused sense. I don't know that the iCloud strategy is enough to sell Apple products on its own, but it may make pulling people away from Apple much more difficult.
I find myself coming away from iOS 5 very pleased by what it brings to the table. It fixes the single biggest issue with iOS dating back a few generations and integrates a few new features very seamlessly without changing the feel or polish of the OS. However, at the same time, I find myself wishing Apple had tried something more daring with the design of iOS 5, especially in light of the significant redesigns Microsoft and Google are in the process of giving their mobile platforms. But iOS has definitely been a success for Apple, so you can’t fault it for not messing with what has worked so well thus far. This is, of course, only part of the story. The rest is with the hardware side - half written already with the iPad 2, and the other half set to come in a few days time with the iPhone 4S.
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ddarko - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
"Unfortunately, iTunes Wi-Fi Sync asks that your phone be connected to a power source for the feature to work. This shouldn’t be too hard to grasp considering the massive power drain issues people would have inevitably faced had it not been otherwise."A quick but notable clarification in the review which gives the impression the wi-fi sync function requires a device to be powered to work. It needs to be plugged in to work automatically once a day. However, a device can manually be synced over wi-fi without being plugged in. Go to settings -> general -> iTunes Wi-Fi Sync and hitting the Sync Now button.
darkpaw - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
On the last pic in the find my friends section, you blurred out the account name at the top,. but not where it appears again at the bottom of the screen.teetee1970 - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
You mentioned the newton force etc to take a picture. You can actually take pictures now with the headset using the up volume button. So you could hook up to a tripod etc or set the phone down somewhere and click away as fast as you can press the buttons on the headset. You could probably use a bluetooth up volume button too.Guspaz - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
I've yet to have WiFi sync actually automatically sync my phone when plugging it in for the night. Perhaps iTunes must be left running on the computer, but that kind of defeats the purpose of automatic sync; I'm not going to leave a bloated app like iTunes running 24/7 just in case my iPhone decides to sync.If this is a requirement, WiFi sync will be largely useless for me until they can at least have a service launch iTunes on the PC when the phone wants to sync.
ddarko - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
Yes, iTunes has to be running for the wi-fi sync to initiate automatically. No, the iOS device won't launch and then quit iTunes.One other thing I've noticed is that leaving iTunes running with wi-fi sync enabled is an enormous power drain on the battery on my iPhone 4. I've noticed my fully charged phone will be down to 40% charge by the morning. Of course, if you leave the iPhone plugged in all night, it will still be fully charged in the morning but apparently, there's a lot of power-draining activities going on between iOS device and computer during the night. This is one reason I've decided not to use auto wi-fi sync since I don't want to keep iTunes running and unnecessarily using power overnight. I still like the wi-fi sync option a lot but I manually sync wirelessly and then quit iTunes.
Geigco - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
I was a Palm/WebOS junkie since it came out."A company that executes consistently may not be competitive on day 1, but after a couple years of progressive iteration it may be a different beast entirely." sums up what WebOS failed to do successfully.
ltcommanderdata - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
Thanks for including results from previous iOS versions to see the evolution in performance as well as the analysis of iPhone 3GS and iPad 1 performance.http://www.barefeats.com/iph4s01.html
I was wondering why GPU benchmarks weren't included? The results at Barefeats show that Apple seems to have much improved GPU drivers in iOS 5 compared to iOS 4.3.5. Devices seem to show around a 25% improvement in GLBenchmark for instance. It would be good if you could validate this result in GLBenchmark and GLview as well as add in the iPhone 3GS which Barefeats is missing.
And do you know how GLBenchmark's online results database reports it's scores? For each device, in the details they seem to list multiple GPU driver and OS versions, which makes me think they are using a running average of submissions. Seeing performance changes with OS version, that would make he GLBenchmark online database very inaccurate. It's great that you are able to run the benchmarks on your own devices so that the results are unambiguous.
MyTechLife2 - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
I haven't seen many comments about the disadvantages of using iMessage. Here's some I've noted:iMessage costs more when not on wi-fi. I pay a flat $6 per phone for everyone in my family to have UNLIMITED SMS/MMS. Or if I use iMessage while away from Wi-Fi, it counts against my LIMITED $15/200MB per phone data plan.
Also, I've found SMS to be more reliable than data service in congested and rural areas. Try posting a Facebook status update or any other data service from a crowded football stadium, vs. using SMS. SMS always wins.
lukarak - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
Most people don't have it like that. But then again, most normal people use Whatsapp. It has really been a revolution for me and my friends.P.S. I have 50 sms free per month, and 1GB of traffic.
repoman27 - Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - link
iMessage packets are very small though. You would have to send on the order of 8000 iMessages per month to use even 1% of your 200MB plan. I'm guessing concerns regarding data plans are also the reason why Apple implements compression for iMessage MMS's when even one client isn't on Wi-Fi.