‘iOS 5 Beta 2’ Tweaks Notification UI, Enables WiFi Sync and OTA Software Updates

IOS 5 Beta 2 Notification Center

IOS 5 Beta 2 Notification Center

Apple on Friday released ‘iOS 5 beta 2’ to developers which reveals some UI improvements and activates new features. One of the most noticeable change is in the way iOS 5 beta 2 displays notifications on the locked screen. In the first beta the notifications appeared in a list format; in beta 2 the notifications first appear as a bubble and allows you to pull down to view the list of all notifications just like in beta 1.

When in iMessage you tap on the compose area the keyboard appears but when you scroll upwards to review the message history the keyboard will automatically hide allowing for more reading space. If you already have typed in a few lines and scroll up don’t worry your message won’t get lost, only the keyboard recedes.

Over-the-Air (OTA) software update was probably one of the most anticipated features and the company has also added support for software updates over 3G. Apple during the WWDC keynote event announced that they now support delta updates for apps as well as iOS updates. Delta updates download only the changes so the data amount should significantly reduce. So, now you won’t have to download 580+ MB of data each time you update Infinity Blade!

iOS 5 beta 2 enables WiFi sync and it’s interesting to note that in the current version you do not necessarily need to plug your device into a power source to start the syncing. WiFi sync finally allows you to ‘cut the cord’ and almost use your iOS device PC free.

The GM seed is expected to be released this fall which will also debut Apple’s cloud based service called iCloud.

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