iOS 7 is now available for download over-the-air for iPhone, iPad, iPad mini and iPod touch. Apple’s latest mobile operating system is the biggest update to the OS since the original iPhone.

Every little detail in iOS 7 has been either largely improved or given an all-new look. While installing the new OS you will also notice the new progress bar as the new update prepares your device. In the new version you’ll easily notice the changes in font, icons, gestures, motion effect and of-course over 100 new user features.

The year Apple’s mobile OS has been stripped off all the heavy textures and ornamentation and what we are left is clean and simple design. Even as the focus has shifted from heavy textures to simple UI, the OS continues to provide an essence of depth and succeeds in establishing relationship between different gestures and features.

For example, when you launch an app it zooms into view to occupy the whole screen and when you press the home button and shrinks back to its icon. This helps in establishing a relation between your action and how visually the features work. There’s also translucency present in the entire OS that helps to understand the hierarchy of menus and the entire OS.

In addition to a completely new look, iOS 7 includes features like Control Center, new notification center, new multitasking UI, improvements to Siri, pages in folders, iTunes Radio, live camera filters and much more.

A few users have reported issues when downloading iOS 7. Due to high download rush to get the new update, it’s possible that Apple’s servers are under a huge load. If problem persists, it is recommended that you close the settings app then try to download again.

Have you been able to install iOS 7 on your device? Do you like the new design and features? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Early Saturday, NYTimes reported that Apple Inc. (AAPL) was looking to invest “hundreds of millions” in microblogging company, Twitter. The report assumes that either Apple is investing or purcahsing a large stake in the company and that the two companies have been in talks in recent months over such a matter.

Apple has considered an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, one that could value Twitter at more than $10 billion, up from an $8.4 billion valuation last year, these people said. They declined to be named because the discussions were private.

There is no guarantee that the two companies, which are not in negotiations at the moment, will come to an agreement. But the earlier talks are a sign that they may form a stronger partnership amid intensifying competition from the likes of Google and Facebook.

However, The Wall Street Journal also came out and negated the claims made in the NYTime report, leading speculators to remain skeptical about such a deal between the two companies. Apple has been dabbling with social media in recent years, pushing for its own Ping network in iTunes, which failed to attract users. Since then, the Cupertino company has heavily incorporated Twitter into both iOS and OS X.

Apple has mixed in Twitter under the share sheets in multiple applications, including Safari on all of its devices and even Notification Center in iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Although Facebook will also be a part of the operating systems soon, Twitter remains tightly integrated.

It is unclear whether Apple still in talks with Twitter or if the two companies even had contact with each other. However, such a deal involving “hundreds of millions” might not justify the profitability Cupertino based company could possibly extract.

{via MacRumors}

On Friday, AllThingsD reported on new statistics about the widespread use of Apple’s newest OS X update, Mountain Lion. The report mentioned that roughly 48 hours after the public release of OS X Mountain Lion, about 3% of total web traffic is coming from the latest Mac software.

Analytics firm Chitika conducted the research to come to this conclusion, estimating that Mountain Lion’s web traffic percentage increased from 0.25% before the public launch. This was likely the developer previews of Mountain Lion running prior to the release.

Moreover, based on Apple’s June 2012 announcement that there are currently 66 million Mac users in the wild, we can infer that 2.11 million Mac users downloaded OS X Mountain Lion in the past 48 hours,” Chitika said. “Using this figure, if we assume that 90 percent of these users paid to upgrade, OS X Mountain Lion generated $38 million in revenue for Apple in the past 48 hours.

It is unclear exactly how this compares to last years installation figures, which brought in one million downloads of OS X Lion on the first day of release.

With Retina Macbook Pro sales still increasing steadily and the company’s Up to Date program running, many users are either buying the MacBooks with Mountain Lion preinstalled or getting the update for free. OS X Mountain Lion brings key features to the desktop platform and blurs the lines between its mobile counterpart, iOS. Features such as Notes, Reminders, Notification Center, iCloud, and Dictation make OS X very similar to iOS.

{via MacRumors}

Apple’s next version of OS X, Mountain Lion came out early Wednesday, adding over 200 new user features including Messages, Notification Center, Notes, and iCloud. Alongside some of the iOS like features introduced in the update, Apple also released a new feature via a firmware update in OS X 10.8 called Power Nap. PowerNap was previously announced at Apple’s WWDC 2012 and allows any Mac running the feature to receive email, update software, and syncing the calendar while the computer is sleeping.

Apple released a support document, highlighting the full abilities of OS X Mountain Lion. Full features of the update include: Syncing Mail, Calendar, Contact and Reminders as well as downloading software updates and Time Capsule backups. The Power Nap feature is currently only available on Mid-2011 Macbook Air and beyond as well as the new 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, both of which operate on SSDs (Solid State Drive).

Flash storage is a requirement for the feature as it can operate faster and more efficiently, using less power. The update was brought to 2011 MacBook Air via a firmware update and is expected to appear on the Retina MacBook Pro, likely through another firmware update.

{via MacRumors}

Apple’s next version of OS X, 10.8 was released on Wednesday, adding over 200 new user features and bridging the gap between iOS and OS X. OS X Mountain Lion brought in a number of new features, but some of the more interesting and useful ones to note includes Messages, Notification Center, Notes, and iCloud. Some of the main features include:

• AirPlay mirroring
• Sharing button
• Notification Center
• Messages
• Mail and Contacts
• Calendar and Reminders
• Safari
• iCloud
• Auto Save, TextEdit and Notes
• Dictation
• PowerNap

With staple features such as Notes, Reminders, and Notification Center making their debut on the Mac, it is clear that Apple is continuing their “Back to the Mac” philosophy and learning a few tips and tricks about the preferences of users. It is clear that iOS devices have a much more widespread following and are easier to learn and navigate, and as a result, it makes sense for Apple to make OS X similar to the mobile software.

Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion is currently available only through the Mac App Store for $19.99 USD, the lowest price ever introduced for OS X software updates. OS X Lion has been enitrely removed from the Mac App Store and replaced with this new update.

The wait for a new Jailbreak has been a long one and for those of you with the new iPad this is the first opportunity you will have had to discover the benefits of Jailbreaking as its not been possible Jailbreak it before.

It’s not just owners of the new iPad that will benefit from the new Jailbreak known as Absinthe 2.0, anyone who has an iPhone, iPod touch or an iPad on iOS 5.1.1. can also Jailbreak for the first time.

For those of you who are thinking of Jailbreaking for the first time Absinthe 2.0 is possibly one of the easiest to do. I’m not going to go through the steps you need to take as these are available via the official website at http://greenpois0n.com/ but take it from me it’s as easy as running the software and pressing a few buttons.

For me Jailbreaking is all about making an already awesome device even better. Most of the tweaks I use make my phone easier to use, from the quick access options of SBSettings to the quick dialing options if CallBar they make the iPhone more intuitive to use.

This is just the beginning though, I also personalize my iPhone and iPad with themes using Winterboard, tweak Safari and the Notification Center with customizations only available on Jailbroken devices as well as many other add-ons, tweaks and apps not available on the stock iPhone and iPad.

There are too many reasons to jailbreak for me to list here, instead you can watch this video instead which shows the top 100 reasons to Jailbreak.

To find out more head over to greenpois0n.com and make you iPhone, iPod touch or iPad the way you want it to be.

The tweaks for jailbroken devices keep coming thick and fast. Some change the aesthetics of the iPhones while other change existing or and new functionality which the iPhone out of the box does not provide.

This week we deal with some of each and the first is one that we are running a competition to win 1 of five free copies, and that’s WorldClockCenter for Notification Center.

WorldClockCenter for Notification Center

A more detailed review of the tweak can be read here which includes instructions on the competition too.

In short WorldClockCenter for Notification Center simply adds all of the world clocks from the default clock app to the Notification Center and so if you have colleagues, family or friends located in different time-zones then this is a great app which will set you back a cent under $2.

PushTone

With the introduction of iOS5 notifications have come along way, however, one thing that you haven’t been able to do is know which notification you are being alerted too if you can’t see your iPhone.

That changes though with the introduction of PushTone which allows you to assign any of your Alert Tones or Ringtones to each individual application that allows sound notifications.

This is all done via the Notifications settings screen as a new PushTone option is added to each apps notifications page. It’s simple and effective, just make sure that you select short tones as the sound can’t be dismissed prior to it ending.

Graviboard

Graviboard is not a new jailbreak but it’s just been updated to support iOS 5 and it now works even better and smoother especially on the iPhone 4s and iPad 2. Graviboard adds gravity to your homescreens and with it your app icons and folders will float around the screen causing controlled chaos.

You can not only control when Graviboard activates but also whether you can still activate apps, swipe between pages, and how much gravity there is, how bouncy the icons are and how much friction there is.

Graviboard is a fun tweak and one that is surprisingly usable as the icons float around. It will certainly get your iPhone noticed too.

AnimateDock

AnimateDock is another tweak that will affect how your home screen looks, specifically the dock, and does exactly what you would expect it too, it animates the dock each time the homescreen is activated whether it be from unlocking the screen or closing an app.

There are multiple effect options to choose from and they can be enabled simultaneously too, so while you can have them rotating to the left, or zoom in and out you can also turn both on and have them rotate while zooming in and out!

AnimateDock is a little rough around the edges but can still produce some fun results.

What new tweaks have you installed this week? Let us know in the comments below or tweet me directly at @4forkssake.

WorldClockCenter for Notification Center – Jailbreak Tweak for iPhone

The sign of a good jailbreak tweak is one that is easy, effective and adds functionality to your device and with WorldClockCenter you get all those things.

WorldClockCenter for Notification Center adds all the world clocks from the iPhone Clock default app and adds them to the iOS 5 Notification Centre. If you travel with your iPhone or if you are one of the many people that work in an environment where you are working with colleagues and customers all of the world the this simple tweak is most certainly for you.

The tweak installs easily from Cydia and adds a new option to your Settings where you can tweak the app further. There are 5 options to play with so that you can get it looking just how you like. You can control the Time Format, Date Format, Text Size and the order of the Date & Time along with the option of showing the city name or not.

Via the Notification Center settings itself you can control where in it will display and I found the best option to be at the top of the screen. Along with the settings you previously set the national flag of the country in question is also displayed alongside each time. This could be repetitive if you have multiple clocks from the same country such as the multiple time-zones in the USA but it’s not a problem.

The clocks are displayed based on the order that they are in the default Clock app any change can be made without requiring a re-spring to have them take affect.

As previously mentioned if you work across multiple time-zones or have family and friends around the world then WorldClockCenter for Notification Center is for you and is available via Cydia right now for just $1.99.

But thanks to tweak author Edouard Durand (@xiaodoudou) we have 5 copies of this tweak to give away, all you need to do is complete the following two steps:

1. Follow @Touch_Reviews on Twitter
2. Tweet the following “I’m trying to win #WorldClockCenter @Touch_Reviews! Click here for more information. https://touchreviews.net/worldclockcenter-notification-center-jailbreak-tweak-iphone.”

5 randoms winners will win a copy of WorldClockCenter for Notification Center from those who have completed the 2 steps above before Midnight on Friday March 2nd.

Good luck and should you have any thoughts on this or any other Jailbreak tweak ask in the comments below or follow me on Twitter, @4forkssake.

Gallery

On Thursday, Apple announced the newest version of the Mac operating system, OS X 10.8. The newest version is being called ‘OS X Mountain Lion’, up from the current OS X Lion running on Mac computers. Apple has made a preview version of OS X 10.8 available to registered developers and will release the final version, with over 100 new features later this summer.

The release will likely be in late August, as usual, and will begin to ship with MacBooks and iMacs during the initial education sales and beginning of the school year, when Mac sales typically increase. SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller commented on the release, saying:

The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better. The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.

Apple launched OS X 10.7 Lion during their “Back to the Mac” event, bringing a number of iOS features back to the Mac in order to blur the lines between the two devices. With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple is pushing iOS integration to a whole new level, integrating a number of apps, including Messages (replacing iChat), Reminders, Notes as well as Game Center and Twitter integration.

Apple has also incorporated Notification Center from iOS 5, allowing the Mac to keep track of all notifications in one place. Prior to this integration, users would have to rely on third-party software like Growl for notifications. The Cupertino-based company has even brought over AirPlay mirroring, allowing users to mirror their Mac screen on their HDTV through the Apple TV.

The developer preview of Mountain Lion features the all new Messages app which replaces iChat® and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. Starting today Lion users can download a beta of Messages from www.apple.com, and the final version will be available with Mountain Lion. Reminders and Notes help you create and track your to-dos across all your devices. Game Center lets you personalize your Mac gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone®, iPad or iPod touch®.

It is very likely that if Apple were to release a television set, the mirror system would be more integrated between iOS and Mac devices. Apple has even went as far as to rename Mac OS X to just OS X, like they did from iPhone OS to iOS.

By integrating iCloud deeper into the Mac platform Apple is blurring the difference between iOS and OS X. The company is challenging the very basic traditional ways of computing and embarking on a new territory of true Cloud computing.

Why Jailbreak iPhone – Winterboard

As well as adding new features and tweaks to your jailbroken iPhone one of the more popular reasons to jailbreak is to apply themes to your device to change it’s look.

There a a couple of tools to do this but the most popular one is Winterboard and once you have downloaded this from Cydia you will open up a wide variety of themes that can be easily downloaded and enabled from within the Winterboard interface.

In fact the process of downloading, installing and enabling themes via Winterboard you can have a different theme everyday if you so wish. Having said that there will probably come a time when you come across a theme that just looks so good that it will stay on your device for good.

Jaku Review

Jaku is a theme by William Szilveszter a beautifully crafted masterpiece that will make your iPhone stand out from all the stock devices of your friends and family.

The polish and attention given to the redesign of the application icons is incredible, they pop off the screen and both the stock apps and many others have been given the full Jaku treatment. In fact, there are so many Jaku icons that when the designer asked me to use a screenshot that only included Jaku icons I ended up have to move one icon from my home screen. In total there are 180 icons in the Jaku theme and more being added all the time.

This theme doesn’t just end there though. The package includes a custom wallpaper and themes for the phone dial, notification center, music player, lock screen and more.

If you haven’t themed your iPhone before now’s a great time to start as your retina display can look even more stunning than it already does especially if you choose the Jaku theme by William Szilveszter. Jaku is available for for just $2.99 in the Cydia store while Winterboard is available for free.

Which is your favorite iPhone theme? Let us know in the comments below or tweet me @4forkssake about jailbreak tweaks and themes.

Why Jailbreak? Tweaks and Apps that make jailbreaking your iPhone / iPad worth it.

The jailbreak community has grown extensively over the past couple of weeks thanks to the release of Absinthe which provided an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. It has been a long wait, especially for those of us that have had a jailbreak before on their previous iPhone’s and have been without one ever since.

So for those people who are new to the jailbreaking scene I’ll be covering the what’s new in jailbreaking each week including new apps, tweaks and jailbreaking news.

As this is the first in the series I’m going to cover some of the reasons why I jailbreak, some of these will be tweaks that have been around for a long time while others are new since Absinthe was released.

On Janaury 20th the Chronic Dev Team released GreenPois0n Absinthe and those iPhone 4S and iPad 2 owners could jailbreak their devices and the process, for most people, was relatively painless.

The jailbreak was as simple as connecting your device to your Windows PC or Mac and running the GreenPois0n Absinthe tool. From than on the tool did all the work and unlike previous jailbreaks there isn’t even a need to put your device into DFU mode, a kind of special sleep mode that allows the device OS to be updated.

After just 15 minutes the Jailbreak was complete and I was ready to add the tweaks and apps that turn my iPhone into the device I know and love.

First up was SBSettings and Activator, two tools that allow you to access iPhone settings and actions via gestures on the home screen or by using the physical buttons on the device. If you frequently have to turn on/off wifi or Bluetooth these two tools are awesome and now SBSettings can now be added to your iOS5 Notification Center for even easier access.

Next up is iFile which gives you access to browse the iPhone file directory and IncarcerApp which for those of you with young children is great as it prevents the home button from being used when your children are in certain applications, this means that they can play their favorite games with the risk of them making phone calls, sending text messages or anything else on your iPhone.

The final of the apps that are jailbreak staples for me is BiteSMS which replaces the standard message apps and adds feature upon feature to the default text messaging application. The two that ensures that BiteSMS is one of the first apps installed is the ability to quickly start an SMS via the volume buttons and the ability to reply to an incoming text or iMessage without having to go to the messaging app.

In addition to these established tweaks there have been a number of new tweaks on the block that have added great new functionality to the already great iPhone.

Call Bar – The default action of an incoming call on an iPhone is to take over the whole screen until you’ve decided how you want to handle the call. With Call Bar installed the incoming call now appears at the top of the screen just like notifications do.

From there you can answer or reject the call either via buttons or by swiping it. This give you full access to use the phone as you please while the call sits at the top of the screen. This is one of those tweaks which makes you wonder how it wasn’t included in the iPhone by default.

Zephyr – This is another tweak that makes you wonder why it’s not part of the standard OS as it’s such a simple, yet great tweak. Zephyr adds multitasking gestures to the iPhone 4S which enables you to do 3 things.

• Swipe left and right to switch between apps.
• Swipe up to close open applications
• Smoothly swipe up to access the multitask icons

Not only are these features great if your iPhone is fully functional but if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones who has a broken home buttons then they become life savers!

SiriToggles – 3 out of 3 for tweaks that have no reason not to be in the iOS by default as SiriToggles adds the ability to open apps and activate/deactivate iOS settings via Siri. “Set brightness to 50%”, “Turn off Bluetooth”, “Open Safari” will all now work and makes Siri a little less Beta than it previously was!

These are just a few of the great reasons to jailbreak. If you have questions or comments about anything jailbreak related post in the comments below or tweet me @4forkssake.

Jan-Michael Cart, University of Georgia student officially announced on his new blog on Tuesday, that he is headed to Cupertino to take a seven-month internship with Apple. Cart gained much attention from iPhone and Mac rumor communities because of his amazingly accurate mock ups of iOS and Lion features.

And like that, my time has come — I am now a member of the Apple community. I will still update my website with random small portfolio additions. I will also open up the blog portion of my website to document my day-to-day happenings in Cupertino. Stay tuned!

In early 2011, rumor site MacRumors and Cart worked together on a mock up of what they believed the Siri voice assistant would look like and how it would operate. After creating a UI design, they reflected their new concept in the form of a video (Check it out below).

Apple’s current Siri UI runs very similar to what Cart predicted and designed. This is not the first time that Apple adopted designs from developers and brought them onboard to work with the iOS software. Apple also offered internships to to Peter Hajas, developer of the jailbreak tool MobileNotifier, which later became Apple’s Notification Center and Nicholas Allegra, known in the jailbreak community as Comex.

Apple is showing flexibility in its approach in innovating iOS software, utilizing the talents and skills of various jailbreakers, hackers, and UI designers to push iOS forward into the modern day creation you see today. It is quite a smart and opportunistic move to bring brilliant minds onboard.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple on Wednesday released iOS 5 software update for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The update was announced during WWDC where Apple unveiled iOS 5, gave update on Mac OS X Lion and introduced iCloud.

iOS 5 is a major upgrade that introduces more than 200 new user features. Notification Center was probably one of the most anticipated feature as iOS devices were lacking an efficient way to manage or organize notifications.

If you have been running iOS 5 beta on your device and tried to update by checking for update via iTunes it might not have worked for you. However, if you were running the GM seed then there is no need for any further update as the build number of the version Apple released on Wednesday is same as the GM seed.

Now, if you are running beta version of iOS 5 then the first thing you’ll have to do is download iTunes 10.5 available from Mac Software Update or Apple’s website. Once you have the latest version of iTunes installed you would would now need to backup your device. You can do this by simply right-clicking on the device name listed on the left sidebar of iTunes and then selecting backup.

The easiest way to update to the final version of iOS 5 is to download the update directly from Apple’s server. Direct links to iOS 5 have been mentioned at the end of this post. Once you have downloaded iOS 5 you would need to hold option key on Mac and then click restore on iTunes. You will be prompted to choose .ipsw file, now select the file you just downloaded and your device should start restoring.

Once this process is complete you will have iOS 5 and when your device restarts you can either set it up as a new device or choose to restore from the backup you took earlier.

In certain rare cases iTunes refuses to restore devices. In that case you should disconnect the USB cable from your iOS device, switch it off and then hold the home button and while pressing the home button connect the USB cable to your device. When you see “connect to iTunes” displayed then leave the home button. iTunes will now prompt you to restore the device. And now you just click on restore and iTunes should automatically download the update and restore your device. After this you can again set it up as a new device or restore from the backup you took earlier.

iOS 5 Direct Links

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• iPhone 4 CDMA
• iPad
• iPad 2 (iPad 2,2 and iPad 2,3)
• iPod touch 3rd gen
• iPod touch 4th gen

iOS 5 is finally available for download from iTunes, the software update was made available at 10:00 AM PT. In order to update your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch you would first need to have iTunes 10.5. Once you have the latest version of iTunes connect your device and then under “Summary” tab click on “Check for update”.

Apple’s iOS 5 update supports iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, third and fourth gen iPod touch, first and second gen iPad. The update according to Apple brings more than 200 new user features.

Some of the most notable user enhancements include Notification Center which offers non-obstructive notifications and a new way to organize all notifications. iMessage is probably one of the most exciting addition that will allow users to send unlimited text, photo and video messages to other iOS 5 device users.

Apple is taking the subscription based digital magazines business even more seriously with the introduction of Newsstand. It automatically organizes magazines and newspaper subscriptions on your Home Screen.

With iOS 5 you’ll also get Reminders app that offers location-based reminders, built-in Twitter support, camera enhancements, mail improvements and much more. iOS device users will now be able to wirelessly sync their devices and even download OTA (over the air) delta updates for future software versions.

Have you already downloaded iOS 5? Share your thoughts and upgrade experiences in the comments below.

Apple is expected to release iOS 5 later today, October 12th, as planned. iTunes 10.5 was made available for download recently in order to prepare for the upcoming software update for iOS devices.

9to5 Mac recently noted that iOS 5 Beta users have started gaining access to NewsStand features. Any magazines or newspaper applications, running on an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch will now automatically show up in the Newsstand folder. Some magazines already available for reading are Wired, GQ, and Popular Science, as well as Golf Digest and Glamour which were updated today for Newsstand.

iOS 5 will bring over 200 new features, including the all-new Notification Center, Reminders, iMessage, and Twitter Integration. Apple is likely going to send out the public release to servers around 1PM ET for download by users.

It’s interesting to note that ‘Siri’ is not a part of iOS 5 update. When Apple unveiled more than 200 new features of the upcoming software update many analysts and news outlets noticed the lack of any voice control features. As it turned out, Apple was indeed working on voice control features and is making it available exclusively for iPhone 4S in the form of Siri.

iPad 2 features tech specs similar to iPhone 4S but, still won’t get Siri anytime soon. Apple is probably looking at marketing the “intelligent personal assistant” as a feature available exclusively on iPhone 4S.

Apple recently posted an update on the iOS developer portal which notes that iCloud backup data will be reset on September 22nd. This has lead many to believe that Apple could be preparing for iOS 5 GM (gold master) release.

We’ve already seen 7 beta versions of iOS 5 that have been released at regular intervals but haven’t seen any new beta in the recent weeks. Usually, Apple aims to offer the gold master seed to developers after seven betas.

iOS 5 is closely tied to iCloud services that allow iOS devices to backup, sync, download content over WiFi or data connection. The update that was posted on the Apple Developer boards alerts the developers to anticipate the iCloud backup reset.

On Thursday, September 22, the iCloud Backup data will be reset. Backing up to iCloud or restoring from an iCloud backup will be unavailable from 9 AM PDT – 5 PM PDT. If you attempt a backup or restore during this time, you will receive an alert that the backup or restore was not successful. After this reset, you will be unable to restore from any backup created prior to September 22. A full backup will happen automatically the next time your device backs up to iCloud.

The Cupertino, California-based company is also rumored to be unveil the iPhone 5 during a special media event expected to be held on October 4th. It’s possible that iOS 5 is available to all users on the same day.

iOS 5 introduces some highly requested features such as Notification Center, iMessage, Twitter integration, new reminders app, camera enhancements, Newsstand and much more.

{via 9to5 Mac}

When Apple updated iTunes and iOS devices enabling developers to subscribe to iTunes Match service and test it many reports suggested that the new services would allow streaming of content. 

However, according to AllThingsD Apple was quick to point out that the device did not stream any content and the songs were still required to be downloaded locally in order to access them.

The company has been fairly consistent in releasing new beta versions of iOS 5. Each update seems to be more stable that the previous and also introduces some minor changes in UI or features. 

It is widely believed that iOS 5 could officially be made available during the announcement of iPhone 5.

The upcoming iOS 5 is a major software update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. It will enable users to sync and activate their devices wirelessly, introduce new features like Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Reminders and much more.

This will truly make iOS devices “PC free”. It will also enable Apple to gain market share as many people who want to buy an Apple device do not prefer connecting to a computer for syncing.

The update is available for download from the developer portal. An active developer account is required to access the beta version of iOS 5.

iOS developers have begun updating their applications for iOS 5. Apple is now approving applications that utilize features of the current iOS 5 beta and incorporate it into their applications. One of the first applications to receive iOS 5 compatibility was the Netflix for iPhone application. Netflix released a minor bug fix for 4.3.4 and iOS 5 simultaneously.

These new updates will allow developers to lay down the framework for iOS 5 once it is released and gives them a head start to work out any bugs associated with iOS 5 in their applications. Developers are able to do this by using the latest beta of the forthcoming software update.

Developers using iOS 5 beta for app updates is going to reflect positively during the final release of iOS 5, making it easier for developers to tone their apps and for users who will have to deal with a lot less bugs and crashes. With the groundwork laid from betas, developers will also be able to include support for other features such as Notification Center, OS wide Twitter Integration, and Newsstand.

{via AppleInsider}

It’s important to note that many new features introduced in iOS5 are just for iPad. TechZoom did a great job in publishing a complete list of new features in iOS 5 and here’s a run down of all the known features.

1. Notification Center: New Notification System.
2. Improved app notifications at the top
3. Lock screen notifications. Swipe will open related app.
4. Notification options in settings menu to choose for each app.
5. Notification sorting by app, time etc.
6. iMessage: Text messaging between iOS devices over Wi-Fi or 3G
7. Newsstand: Similar to iBooks to store, auto-download magazine subscriptions & new issues.
8. Reminders: A list of reminders with Geo-fence and integrated with Calendar app
9. Twitter Integration: Log in to Twitter from settings once and Tweet anything from Safri, Photos, YouTube etc. Similar to login & sharing used by Mail.app
10. AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2: Duplicate the iPad screen on television wirelessly
11. iCloud integration: A new free service with more than 5GB data to be shared between iOS devices
12. Open Camera.app from lock screen: Double tapping on Home button will open the Camera.app from lock screen
13. Take pictures from lock screen: Volume up button can be used to take pictures
14. Camera Grid: For more precise focus and accurate photography. This feature was available on Camera+ app
15. Camera Zoom: Pinch-to-zoom Gesture like Photos.app on Camera.app
16. One tap Auto Focus and Auto Exposure
17. Lock Auto Exposure & Auto Focus for consistency.
18. Swipe Left to open camera roll
19. Crop Photos: Not available on 3GS
20. Enhance Color tones of photos: Not available on 3GS
21. Rotate Photos
22. Red-eye removal: Remove, correct Red-eye within Photos.app
23. Photo Stream via iCloud over all your iOS devices
24. Organize photos within Camera Roll
25. Tabbed Browsing in Safari: For iPad only
26. Safari Reader
27. Safari Reading List: Save web pages for offline reading
28. Improved Performance: Like it was enhanced in 4.3.3
29. Private Browsing: Similar to Firefox / Incognito on Chrome.
30. Website specific data can be deleted
31. Cut the cord: Activate and setup iOS device without a Mac or PC
32. Over-The-Air (OTA) iOS Software Updates: Again, no need of a computer & cord
33. Delta Software Updates: Upgrade only changed files. No need to download & install entire OS.
34. Wi-Fi Sync: Sync iOS device with PC or Mac over Wi-Fi
35. Backup and Restore from iCloud account
36. Sync Exchange tasks
37. Downloads: See a list of downloaded apps from App Store from any of your iOS device
38. Rich Text Formatting for Composing Mail (Bold, Italics, Underline, etc.)
39. Improved offline support for Mail.app
40. Indentation Control
41. Drag-able email addresses: Drag, arrange email addresses in To, CC, BCC fields
42. Improved mail search: Full content search in Mail
43. Flag Emails
44. S/MIME Security
45. Profile picture for Game Center
46. Friend recommendations for Game Center
47. Games recommendation
48. Friends-of-friends list
49. App Store in Game Center: App store integrated within Game Center to find & buy new Apps / Games
50. New Achievements like Points
51. Play turn-based games within Game Center
52. Swipe-Up with 4-5 fingers for multitasking bar (iPad only)
53. Swipe-Left or Swipe-Right with 4-5 fingers to switch between running apps (iPad only)
54. Pinch with 4-5 fingers for the home screen (iPad only)
55. New Split keyboard: For easier typing on iPad
56. New Keyboard Shortcuts
57. Emoji Emoticons: Emoticons like we see in IMs now for iOS devices. Mostly with iMessage!
58. LED Flash for incoming calls and notifications for better accessibility
59. Custom vibration for incoming calls for better accessibility
60. VoiceOver improvements including custom element labeling
61. Custom tones for Calendars, Mail, and Voicemail (Nothing known for SMS tone)
62. Year view on Calendar: iPad only
63. Week view on Calendar: For iPhone & iPod
64. New Music App: Redesigned only for iPad
65. Music & Video: Two separate apps for iPhone (Instead of Video inside iPod app)
66. Scroll for long song titles
67. Song description: Tap & hold on a song title for description
68. Smart Playlists: Sync smart playlists from iTunes.
69. Weather Forecasts updates hourly
70. On-location Weather: Determines current location. Custom locations can still be added.
71. Alternate routes in Maps
72. Print Maps: Print location, direction maps
73. Twitter Pictures: Use Twitter pictures for contacts with integrated Twitter
74. Auto Download in backgroud: Newstand issues, apps can be downloaded in background once subscribed.
75. Sync in background: Now possible to use iOS device while it is still syncing in background
76. Links in background: Safari links, iTunes links can be opened in background
77. Space usage: Determine space used by each app, supported file types under settings
78. iCloud usage: Determine space used on iCloud under settings
79. Change device name: Change iOS device name on-the-go via settings
80. Some GUI Improvements
81. Personal Dictionary: Create & store own words for re-use
82. Built-in Dictionary: Built-in dictionary app
83. iTunes Tone Store: Choose, Buy, Install custom tones
84. Improved FaceTime video quality
85. VoiceOver Item Chooser
86. Speak Text: Speak text based on selection
87. Delete recent calls: Delete single or one-by-one recent call list
88. Delete app data: Delete saved games, saved data for specific apps / games
89. Time mid-call invitation alerts
90. Download Multiple Apps: Now its possible to download and install multiple apps instead of one-by-one.
91. Delete songs: Check to Delete songs / playlists on iOS device
92. New Keyboard Shortcuts: Type OMG and it will type Oh My God.
93. Custom Text Tones: Custom SMS tones.
94. Auto Sync backup: It takes backup of the file on the device. Hence restoring from scratch is made easy. No need to grab all apps one-by-one. Saves lot of time.
95. ‘Install’ link instead of Price if the app is already bought.
96. Silent Switch: Shows volume level along with the Bell icon while switching back from Silent to Ringer (Currently it shows only the Bell icon)
97. Hotmail accounts have new icons & folders
98. Sync events, contacts, notes with predefined accounts under Mail.app (Like Hotmail, Gmail etc)
99. Marked Apps: All apps that are downloaded on iOS device for your account are marked as FREE (Free to download if they’re & free to download because you’ve already purchased them)
100. Arabic language support for VoiceOver
101. Icon Badges: Option to turn ON or OFF icon badges for apps. (Red circle with update)
102. Accessible input for mobility
103. Assistive Touch Gestures: Allows us to use iPhone with adaptive accessories while controlling touch sensitivity.
104. FaceTime over 3G: Yes, it is now possible. Not yet available for developers though.
105. Unsecured call notifications: Device prompts for confirmation for calls saying network is not encrypted!
106. Mid-call Invitation Alert: If the phone is busy, we can still receive a placed conference call.
107. Free @me.com email address: Yes. With iCloud integration, all iOS 5 users will get @me.com email ID
108. Custom Gestures: Create and save custom gestures. Mainly for motor-disables persons for use with AssistiveTouch accessories
109. Swipe-Left can let you browse through day-view one-by-one in Calendar
110. FaceTime without Sim card: FaceTime can now be activated and used either via a phone number or email address (Apple ID)
111. Unknown Caller details: When you receive a call from number that is not on your contacts – the display also shows city name associated with the area code. Currently it shows in recent calls list only.
112. Vibrate Alert for sent & received emails (What is they come-and-go the same time? Confusing?)
113. Real-Time stock updates
114. Multiple Mark Read: Can now select & mark multiple emails as read.
115. Pause Timer: It’s possible to pause the Timer instead of ‘Cancel’
116. New German Keyboard: Easy access to Germanic umlaut
117. 1080p Playback support for iPad.
118. Social Networking Integration: Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace along with Twitter (Options under Settings.app but not sure if integrated throughout the OS like Twitter)
119. Headphone Balance: Option to choose Left & Right balance for headphones under Accessibility
120. Cellular Network for App Store: Option to Enable or Disable using Cellular Network (GPRS, 3G) to download apps from the App Store.
121. Disable In-App Purchase: Ability to completely disable In-App purchases
122. iTunes Password Prompt: It is now possible to set frequency for iTunes Password prompt to appear.
123. Storage Usage Clean Up: We can not only see what files have taken up the space but we can empty that space with single wipe like Apps, Game’s saved data, Music, Videos etc.
124. Equalizer Presets
125. Improved Sound Check for music
126. RSA ID is now available when setting up VPN. This is for performing two-factor authentication for a user to a network resource.
127. Folders for Mail: Yes. Possible for any allowed mail account including new Hotmail.
128. Find My iPhone: This is available as a part of iCloud integration with an option to disable it.
129. Scrolling Titles for YouTube videos
130. Double tap the home button on YouTube while watching a video to see who uploadedthat video
131. HD YouTube video if connected to 3G
132. Take pictures using headphone remote: If you have headphone with remote them it is possible to take picture using Volume UP button.
133. Animated GIF image support for iMessage. Does not animate in Photos.app
134. Hold and drag events from within different dates or time
135. Tapping and holding back button in Safari will show-up visited website history (iPad only)
136. Current time on Calendar if in landscape mode
137. New voices for Voice-Over
138. Option to display Stock & Weather widgets in Notification Center
139. Add family relations to contacts.
140. Restrictions with password required for purchases if enabled
141. Enable / Disable option for voice-dial if the phone is set to security with pass-code lock.
142. Purchase history on app store
143. Automatically set time for iPod Touch
144. Auto Correct & Spell Check are independent options.
145. Broadcast song information on devices (like car stereo) when connected over Bluetooth
146. New keyboard with prominent  #(hash-tag) and @ (mention) buttons for Twitter app like we have a prominent ‘.com’ button for Safari address bar.
147. iPod app renamed to Music
148. Enhanced Mail.app even in offline mode and sync back when online.
149. Help center: Learn more about every option under settings app to explore more about it
150. New notification alerts within mail app if you forgot to write a subject line (Similar to Gmail!)

Many developers who installed iOS 5 beta believe that Apple might have not yet added all 200 features in recently released beta. Hence, the list above may not reach the 200 mark.

If you found a feature not listed above then leave a comment below and share it with us.

Apple announced the future of iOS today with iOS 5, introducing the biggest part, a revamped notification system, the biggest change to the OS since iOS 3. The new system is called Notification Center and is accessed similar to Android when swiped down from the top of the screen.

Notification Center aggregates all the notifications in one spot and allows for easy access to all at one time instead of clicking each one individually. This is the first Pull Down menus we have seen in iOS and could be included to a number of features throughout. Notifications are also now on the lock screen, allowing easy access to calendar events as well as missed phone calls. Apple, aside from the major change of notifications has introduced Newsstand which allows newspapers and books to be found in one place. Other features in iOS 5 are:

Twitter Integration

Twitter integrates (as rumored) within iOS which tweets messages and you location through iOS. Integrated with many apps, including Camera and Photos. Just tap the action button, hit “Tweet” and it’s attached. This is done through Single sign-on. Simply, go into Settings, add in your details, and you’re configured for Twitter. These details are saved and can be used with any application.

Safari in iOS 5

Safari now has Reader capability, allowing for newspapers and articles to be read in a clutter free view. Apple also introduced something called Reading List, (basically InstaPaper), which allows articles to be saved for reading later and across devices. Other features include:

• Tabbed browsing
• Twitter integration (as do all other apps)
• Reminders (lists of things, assign a reminder to any dates, and you can even assign a location)

Camera Updates

• Camera button on lock screen for easy access
• Volume up button allows picture taking
• pinch-to-zoom as well as hold and tap exposure
• Photo editing directly on device (You can crop, rotate, reduce red-eye, and you can do a one click enhance)

Mail Updates

• Rich-text formatting, indentation control, draggable addresses (from To: to Cc: or Bcc:), flagging so you can mark them as unread, and now you can search the entire contents of messages.
• S/MIME is being added for added security
• built-in dictionary (also a service across iOS)
• New keyboard (grab it with thumbs and the keyboard splits in two

PC Free

A computer is no longer necessary for syncing the device. It can be set up directly, when turned on, the screen displays a welcome message, allowing setup and activation right on the device.

iMessage

New messaging service for all iOS users, regardless of device and features delivery receipts, read receipts, and real-time typing notification (which is pushed to all of your devices)
– Allows access to photo albums
– Sends notification when message arrives

AirPlay

AirPlay mirroring, letting you mirror your entire iPad right to the TV — wirelessly.

Apple is allowing developers to receive a seed for the SDK, today and briefly talked about device compatibility. Basically, any device from the iPhone 3GS on will work on iOS 5. iOS 5 will be released to users this coming Fall, possibly after the release of new hardware for the iPhone iPod touch and iPad.

{Image: Engadget}