I’m in the process of uninstalling iOS 5 on my iPad 2. Not because it’s poor, but because it’s still Beta software and I reckon Apple deserves to be judged on finished software. But just by way of information, here are the things you’re going to love about iOS5:
Background Sync
The fact that a sync to the iDevice can now be done in the background without the ‘Sync in Progress’ screen rendering the device utterly useless is fantastic. This is one of those little ‘quality of life’ issues it’s really hard to live without having experienced it. It’s great.
Unobtrusive notifications
The fact iOS has taken so long to get background notifications sorted out was laughable. The omission is as irritating and much less useful than User Account Control on desktop OS’ and has been the cause of enormous irritation for me over the past couple of years. I won’t be sad to see the blue box banished to history, and I suspect you won’t either. The implementation is good, I am happy to report
Graphics tweaks
Animations are tweaked and tightened in another of those little ‘quality of life’ examples of how Apple seems to have pretty much rebooted the iOS look and feel. Don’t misconstrue my message here: it’s still very much the iOS layout, and the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but the way in which the UI has been fixed up is really excellent.
Over-the-air sync and Cloud Apps management
Being able to find long-lost and apparently long-forgotten apps I paid good money for was useful; the fact that you’ll now get a notification in the App Store that you already possess apps to install in all your iDevices is simply good logic. I can’t be certain that it’ll be the same with iTunes songs, but I hope it is. Sometimes I forget which albums I’ve bought, if I’m buying a few at once. Apple might yet save me from my profligacy.
