So WWDC has been and gone and Apple has laid its cards on the table with iOS 5. The biggest surprise was perhaps the sheer scope of the update and the number of major new features that are being released. With one notable exception I’m now struggling to think of Android features which iOS now lacks.
Notifications
Apple have pretty much totally ripped off their implementation of notifications. Most of you are probably familiar with the UI of the new Notification Centre from Android but the actual notifications themselves, which appear as a banner at the top of the screen, are straight out of WP7. Still, this is an area where iOS was really lagging behind the competition and at least they stole from the best.
Lock Screen
Taking a cue from the like of Samsung’s TouchWiz, Apple have increased the usefulness of the iOS lockscreen by showing notifications and allowing direct access to apps from it. A quick swipe on a notification will take you directly to the relevant app.
iMessage
There’s not too much to say about iMessage. It’s basically BBM for iDevices and appears to have the same pros and cons. On the plus side it seems to do its job really well but, like BBM, it isn’t cross platform. This is the reason that I personally use WhatsApp. It’s the messaging app that the majority of my friends use, probably because it’s available on Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Symbian.
It’s also the reason why I use Skype instead of FaceTime on my iPod Touch. While FaceTime is great for video calls it just isn’t very useful when so many of my contacts don’t use iOS. And this is despite Apple announcing at launch that they’d make FaceTime an open standard. One year on it’s still iOS only and there doesn’t seem to be much progress on this front.
Twitter Integration
It’s great to see iOS finally get Twitter integration, although I can’t help thinking that Facebook would have been more useful for more people. Users can finally tweet directly from apps such as Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube, and Maps instead of having to boot up their Twitter app every time. I wrote about iOS’s dreadful sharing functionality in a previous post and while this does’t fix everything it’s a good start.
Camera Another feature inspired by WP7, you can now quickly access the camera from the lock screen even if the phone is locked. The implementation isn’t quite as good because all WP7 devices have a shutter button which you can hold down for a few seconds to launch the camera. But, once you’ve launched the camera you can now use the iPhone’s volume up key to take a shot.
iCloud
A lot of iCloud’s new features will be nothing new to users of other mobile OSs. Things such as mail, calendar and contact sync are hardly cutting edge tech however iCloud does seem to go futher than many other services in terms of the data it syncs.
For example it automatically backs up your camera roll. WP7 also has a similar function which syncs with SkyDrive, however iCloud has the added bonus of simultaneous pushing these photos down to your other devices. This removes the need to go online to view your pics as they are immediately available for local viewing.
The same integration is built into iWork apps where changes made on any device are automatically synced up with all your other devices. What it appears to lack is web access to your docs. While everything is available locally on your device there doesn’t appear to be a web client like Google Docs which can be used to access your documents from anywhere.
The biggest disadvantage of iCloud seems to be that, like iMessage, it’s limited to iDevices. Want to access that document from your Android phone? Tough! It’s great if you everything you own comes from Cupertino but for everyone else it’s a half baked solution. The reason so many people love services like Dropbox and Evernote is their cross platform nature and this is where iCloud falls down.
However Apple has also opened up the iCloud APIs to developers so that they can add cloud sync features to their own apps. This is probably the most exciting aspect of the service and the one area where it truly differentiates itself from others at this moment.
Whenever I flash a new ROM, Android is clever enough to know the apps that I’ve previously installed and redownload them. But with iCloud they could also be setup automatically with no need to enter my login details or readjust all the settings to suit my preferences. I probably don’t have the imagination to think of how creatively this could be used but I can’t wait to see the ideas that developers come up with.
Summary
Yes, a lot of what Apple revealed last week was nothing new. But so what? The end result is that iOS will now be that much better. Aside from widgets and native Gmail, Apple have suddenly negated most of Android’s advantages. There’s nothing wrong with copying good ideas and although there’s little innovation I still can’t wait to try out iOS 5 and benefit from all the new features.
Perhaps the most exciting consequence of WWDC will be Google’s response with Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe all Apple did last week was catch up but it’s now up to Google to push ahead once more.
Nice ! Very Nice !But why thay couldnt change this horrible keyboard!
It would of been nice if they included a few keyboard options like from the days of Windows Mobile! I used to the love the numeric keyboard with T9 switched on, that was soooo speedy! Could type without looking at the screen, with one hand, with minimal errors! Loved that!
Features that have been listed are pretty much welcomed. No having to have a PC / Laptop to sync your device is also long overdue!
Roll on the Autumn. (by then I should think other mobile phone OS designers would’ve trumped Apples new iOS 5 but we never really know whats round the corner. All of this is healthy competition. I certainly welcome that!
I personally love my software keyboard and think iOS has the best one of the lot but there’s nothing wrong with choice. I just can’t see Apple changing things after this long.
An interesting assessment Ravi.
For me personally, apart from being left handed and suffering from antennagate, and my indignation at then being told by apple I was ‘holding it wrong’, the notifcation system in ios 4 was the nail in the coffin that moved me to return my iphone 4 and move back to Windows Phone 7 (having been a 6.5 user previously).
I have loved using Windows Phone 7, and dont get me wrong, I am not trolling – I have a macbook air, a macbook pro and an ipod, but knowing the notification system has improved may trigger a move to apple with the anticipated iphone 5.
Key to any move back to an iphone will be the superlative camera and overall support, which is currently lacking for windows phone 7 – for example, where is spotify for windows phone 7????
There’s a small chance I could also be getting an iPhone 5 come release. With version 5 iOS will finally be at a level for me where it seriously competes with Android. I’d miss the widgets but think I could live with that.
Saying that I don’t know if I could swallow the price and I’m hold out out on hope that Google release a new Nexus alongside Ice Cream Sandwich.
It would appear that altho comparatively Windows Phone 7 apps have increased dramatically over the past year, alot of the major publishers have yet to produce their apps on the Windows Phone platform.
I had a play with the Windows Phone OS at the Gadget Show and I found it to be buttery smooth and looked very stylish. I loved the look of it and how it all worked together. I think this OS is going to be pretty big once the updates start coming thick and fast.
The only and I mean only reason I havent switched to another mobile other than the iPhone is because of all the Apps I have purchased under iOS. Im not purchasing my sat nav all over again just so I can try out another phone. Its a shame as I love tinkling with all the different OS’s out there and devices.
Just reading that back, I do sound like I need to get out more! 🙂
To be honest I think even Android suffers from the same problem. Yes there are loads of apps but to be honest the big brands for some reason seem to stick solely to iOS. There are just so many apps on iOS that aren’t on anything else and it’s really frustrating.
I’ve actually been planning a post about it for a while.
Excellent post Rav.
Cheers Stu!
Yeah, I often wonder what Apple’s problem with T9 is.
And no custom dictionary?
I’d start using this nice new iPhone 4 I have in my desk and re-box the HTC Desire.
i would love to know how the wifi sync will work i have 3 devices that are all charged overnight will they all be able to sync ?