With over THREE-QUARTERS of a MILLION total video views and almost 550 Subscribers, now couldn’t be a better time to join in on the fun of being a part of our fan base! Thanks so much to our current Sub’s for helping us reach this milestone and we look forward to reaching even higher goals in the near future!
We now have over 300 Subscribers and more than 225,000 upload views, AMAZING. Thanks to everyone who’s made this possible!
Over 100,000 Upload views and more than 200 Subscribers! Thanks to everyone who has made this possible and I can’t wait for You’veGotTech to grow even more!
Blake Fruchtman June 11, 2011
iOS 5: A Complete Review
As I’m sure you all know, it has been about a full week since Apple released it’s iOS 5 to developers. Being a developer, I’ve had quite a bit of time with the new mobile operating system and I am going to grade it on three levels. First, what it can do better, second, if it can measure up as a full fledged OS (to get the negative stuff out of the way) and then ending with what it does great (to end on a positive note)!
What it could do better-
1. While I do like the new built-in editing features of iOS 5, it’s particularly confusing to me why Apple would separate the feature from the actual camera app. Yes, this means that after taking a photo, you must first switch to the photos app to edit the picture. What’s peculiar about this is that when you take a picture, and you decide that before you quickly post it to Facebook, Twitter or what-have-you, you want to tweak some simple little things and you would imagine that all you would have to do is snap, swipe over to your camera roll (a great new gesture where you swipe to the right to see your photos instead of having to tap the little thumbnail on the bottom), edit and post. However, here’s what it looks like now: snap, fast-app-switch to your photos, edit-AND THEN POST.
2. As I’m sure we all agree, notifications are just great in iOS 5, but it’s a little buggy that you can’t delete individual notifications. By this I mean, you can press the little X to clear the different subjects of notifications (like mail, texts, etc.) but if you have more than one email or text you can’t get rid of one of just one of them. Again, small and this is just a beta, but hopefully something that is changed.
3. I really, really like the tabs in Safari on the iPad, however, I can’t stand that on both the iPhone and iPad it continues to load the mobile version of almost every site I go to first, making me scroll to the bottom to select the desktop version, why can’t you set it in settings or something to always load the desktop versions of at least some sites?! This is a smartphone and the leading tablet in America, right?
How advanced of an OS has it really become? (Can it really operate on it’s own, never needing to rely on your computer-or another operating system-almost acting like a full desktop OS)-
Even with it’s new “PC Free” cord cutting features, the answer to this question Is not a 100% yes yet. This is because some of it’s core functions do not allow for full media creation, while iOS is wonderful for consumption of all types of media, some apps just do not give you the advanced things Windows or Mac OS X do. I’ll give you an example, let’s say you are a full time YouTube tech reviewer and you are trying to run your channel through the “MOBILE” app. First of all you can’t even see your channel, I’m talking about the full view with theme, background, wall comments and all. Secondly, you cant see other peoples channel’s either, nor your inbox or full account settings. And worse off you can’t see who is subscribing to you, arguably the most important thing. Now, while you can do this in “Mobile Safari,” the fact that it doesn’t support flash (of course, this is Apple we’re talking about :p) means your video will not play in the window. And, truthfully, even if safari did support flash, the constant having to switch between other apps to do common things when it all could be done in a single app, takes away from overall productivity.
Granted, since this is a mobile operating system, I guess it is ok with certain apps definite “mobile” feature sets, and it certainly could be seen as nit picky and unfair to be comparing it to full scale Desktop OS’s. However, with Apple integrating in many features of iOS into OS X and visa versa, the comparisons are bound to happen.
What it Brings to the Table (how much easier it makes your life)-Ten thingsin order from most awesome to still pretty awesome
1. Notifications: I, like many people, absolutely love the new banner-style notifications in iOS 5. First, for the obvious reason that they no longer rudely interrupt you every 25 seconds, (which adds to your productivity!) and second because now it is actually useful to enable apps to notify you and I am already noticing how much more I can stay up-to-date. Also, it is nice, scratch that, wonderful to now have the OPTION of either doing something about the notification or ignoring it and continuing on, uninterrupted!
2. iCloud integration: The fact that all of my devices (iPhone, iPad and MacBook) are now fully in-sync with each other on 2 key things make all the difference! Those 2 key things are Apps and Music, and one not-so-important thing, (for me) iBooks. It is surreal, really, to see almost instantaneously after I make a purchase-on my iPhone, lets say-have it automatically start to download on all my other devices, by itself! You really must see this in person, it is so cool! But iCloud doesn’t even stop there, it lets you see your full purchase history, in all three stores, and re-download anything you want, for free! It’s like an infomercial now, because that’s not it, it even takes over all the things MobileMe used to charge $99 a year for, for the low price of nothing!
3. Camera Enhancements: Finally, with iOS 5, you can get to your camera from the lock-screen (by double clicking the home button and tapping the little icon next to the slide-to-unlock area). Next, I appreciate Apple giving you the option to use the volume-up button as a camera shutter, even if they took the idea from Camera+.
4. PC Free: It’s understandable to say that iOS 5 “borrowed” some of its features from Android or WebOS, but hey, nobody can say they mind having the ability now to sync, back-up, or upgrade their OS over the air (OTA). Again, HUGELY important. Not to mention how much better the out-of-box experience will be, not having to tether it to your computer first thing, or ever for that matter!
5. Safari Enhancements: With full tabs on the iPad and Reader and Reading List across all devices, Safari has never been more akin to a desktop browser than it is in iOS 5, plus, the rendering engine has been slightly updated so sites load a little faster. However, one subtle little addition is the ability in settings to set whether you would like links to load in the background (which is awesome!) or in a new page (boring)! Just to be clear though, tabbed browsing on the iPad is the real killer feature here and being able to quickly jump between pages is SO MUCH better than having to go in and out with the stupid box interface (which is still stinking up the place on the iPhone).
6. AirPlay Mirroring: Do you remember when Apple made it possible to mirror exactly what was on your iDevice’s screen with it’s $39 Digital A/V Adaptor (plus the price of an HDMI cable)? Well, now, that is all possible to do wirelessly, and even better, for free! However, for now, this feature is only available on the iPad 2 (most likely because of its A5 processor).
7. Twitter Integration: For all of you extremely socially active people (and I’m 100% sure that’s A LOT of you), having Twitter integrated at the system level could be a godsend. For me, however, I use Facebook a little more and would’ve loved to have seen system wide integration for it too, especially because both would’ve been amazing! Oh well, I guess Mr. Zuckerberg’s dinner with good ol’ Steve didn’t go as planned.
8. iMessage: As most people are saying, BlackBerry maker-RIM- has to watch their back now, as one of their last amazing innovations still widely appreciated by many, BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) now has a contender in iMessage. This new service allows for free messaging (SMS, MMS and almost all types of media) across all iOS Devices exclusively (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) and will take the place of the current messaging service (that costs money against your data plans) whenever applicable. In my estimation though, I’m sure RIM will stay mostly unchanged as they have a fairly loyal fan-base and definitely have their own niche in the market.
9. Set your own text shortcuts: This little, yet awesome addition, allows you to dictate which quick shortcuts you type, wont be “corrected” with “auto-correct.” Instead when you type idc-for example-it will type out I don’t care, making typing out long, common phrases much quicker and easier.
10. Built-in Dictionary (+speak text): Having a dictionary at the system level is a definite productivity booster, as you don’t have to switch between multiple apps to do a common task, which I’m a fan of! Basically, your reading something on a web page and you come across a word you don’t know, well forget about needing to switch to your dictionary app, just tap and hold on the individual word and tap define. Now this would be great on its own, but when you combine this with the option to speak a text selection-if lets say you also don’t know how to pronounce this word either-all of a sudden you get an AMAZING solution.
The little things really do matter:
Ability to delete individual missed or recent calls, instead of having to clear all in the past. Finally, what took ‘em so long?
5 Nice-To-Have’s:
Reminders (Apple’s first-party inclusion of a To-Do app), Game Center (Apple’s gaming community just became a little more social, profile pictures, game recommendations, and achievement points round it out), Alternate Routes in Maps (still no spoken turn-by-turn navigation), Newsstand (organization in one spot for all your Magazine and Newspaper subscriptions) and a Separate app for Videos (just like on the iPod Touch).
With all of this said, I would give Apple’s iOS 5 an 8 out of 10, successfully making much, if not all, of the annoying parts of iOS 4 disappear (I would have given iOS 4 a 6 out of 10) and making much of my life in iOS easier and more productive, but still lacking in some smaller areas like overall fit and finish with the notifications and the still very mobile feel of the YouTube and other apps that shall not me mentioned (*cough cough, Safari, cough cough*)
Either way, what’s your view on all of this? Are you in the same camp as me where you commend Apple for doing a truly fantastic job making iOS 5 an extremely feature packed release, with what’s an even bigger feat - A BETA build (and an early one at that, meaning more features and maybe even some of the ones I’ve brought up here could be coming before it’s fall release) but just slightly disappointed with “Apple’s most advanced iOS ever” not delivering the full package, yet! Or do you think I’m WAY off? Sound off in the comments :)
About the Author: I am a 16 year old guy from long Island, NY, whose passion is technology (blakemets7 on YouTube). Basically, I’m a full time geek, brought up by a fellow programmer, my Father, and a fairly technologically challenged, yet loving Mom. (I know, that last part didn’t make too much sense, but the first half did, and that’s where I got my love for tech from)! My goal, as an aspiring tech reviewer, has been to be a part of TechnoBuffalo for a few years, ever since its creation, mostly, since I’ve always idolized Jon Rettinger (and Noah Kravitz recently as my main focus is also on mobile technology). Much like Jon’s tech stories, often, when I’m out, I like to look at and test out all the smartphones at my local Verizon Wireless store and every time I go to Costco I like to check out and completely immerse myself in all the TV’s, Cameras, and Computers waiting for me on the store shelves.
Video Review of iOS 5!:
