Have You iOS5-ed?

Much awaited iOS5 or the operating system of all the "i" devices (iPhone & iPad) was launched yesterday October 13, 2011. Users that ran their iTunes automatically will see a prompt (if they are connected to the Internet) to update their iTunes software to 10.5. Upon downloading the software, user that sync-ed their iDevices will find the prompt that ask them if they want to upgrade to (the much awaited) iOS.

Depending on your Internet broadband (how we have progressed from 56kbps connection and those sweet hum of those old modems!), the download ranges from hours to 10minutes.
I got mine done on the 20Mbps connection that was just sweet.
The usual "backup" will be performed as a restore point later. No sweat there.
The phone will then go into recovery mode as the software extract and install into your iDevices. The process takes anything from 30minutes to an hour (30 on mine and 60 on wifey's, i have less photos in my phone).
Upon completion, the iDevice will reboot and you will be greeted with a screen you have not seen before in any iDevices.

How cool is that? For once, it's interactive!
Pressing through the setup process will show you the few screen below. Click to enlarge.
Once you are done going through the whole process of setting it up, which include (new) the iCloud, which is a virtual storage space provided by Mac. The space allocated per phone is 5gb which can be used to backup, among other things, your phone contacts, emails, photos etc.

If you are the anal type and do not want your information to be floating in cyberspace, there is always the more traditional backup into the computer that you are using (iTunes allow up to five authorised PC, if you do not know. Just remember to de-authorise PCs that you decommission).

If you opt for iCloud backup, it will automatically backup (over wifi or data plan, you choose) the items you choose to backup (can be accessed in SETTINGS).

While the "Find My iPhone" apps has been available for some time, iOS5 integrate them into the package. It is important especially if you misplaced your iDevices and you can either try to locate it or erase/lock the phone for good.

Lastly, it has an option to set the phone to automatically send data (diagnostic & Usage) to Apple to "help improve their service".

Once the whole process is complete, your iDevices is ready to roll.

Not.

Here is the thing. Once you are done with the setup on the phone, the slow painful process begin.

The device actually have not finish "restoring" your phone. You will find that all Apps (though the icons are there) will not be usable. It has simply NOT downloaded yet onto the Device.

Expect to spend another hour to allow ALL (yes, all your apps ever downloaded and residing in your iTunes' library). A bit more on the songs you want to sync. A lil more for the videos. If you have a 16gb iDevice, count yourself lucky as there is only that much it can take. But if you are on 32gb and has the tendency to load them up to the brim just to tell others "Yeap, i have it", be prepared to wait.

And as usual, once they are all done, comes the tiring process of re-grouping your apps into their folder (i admit i am anal about being organised).

So, was it all worth it?

There are two school of thoughts; Those that has been using jailbroken iDevices and those that has swear by "original OS". Jailbreaker will laugh at what iOS5 has stating that their devices has already have those features. Those playing it safe will be in awe.

The GUI has improved. There is a "pull down" notification bar that imitates those other operating system (Androids to be specific).

Yeap, notification drop down bar. New in iOS5. Weather  update and Stock update(disabled) available too!

So what else is new at the first glance? For those of you that tweet, it allows you to directly tweet from the photo album! This is a first in iOS. It cuts down the amount of buttons to press for that instantaneous update. :) I would say it's cool feature (not that i tweet a lot...it's still less than 4,500 in 1 year plus).

select the picture and you get TWEET as an option too!

The Apps in Apps store has seen tremendous updating the couple of days and i believe, it is part of the launch of iOS5 to ensure that these apps work seamlessly with the OS. One of the biggest improvement IMHO will be the Facebook apps. Those of you in my FB list would know how viciously i use that social media platform to update on social events and happenings.

a scroll/hidden tab exposed when you press the "three line bar".

Facebook experience is now "enhanced" and just too bad they can't play Video directly still. That would be a dream. A friend that has iPad reported that the new Facebook Apps for iPad now allow direct photo upload into album. That is certainly a big step towards making the PC redundant!

So, have you iOS5? It's definitely worth the wait.

Ability to update the future iOS software "over the air" or via wifi. No need iTunes or cable, anymore

Next Post : iMessage - How Apple will make BBM redundant.

*this post is dedicated to TSB. His last Facebook update was "Downloading ios 5 ;-)". It was about 2hours before he passed away. I supposed he decided to download it, go for a run while the iOS downloaded, come back and ready to write a review on it. Let me complete this for you, but i know, you will write it way better than i could. RIP brother.