For a long time now, I have always been a religious Android user. I just love it. The fact that I can have a custom app for my texting. Skype for video calls, and heaps of great music players to choose from. A couple of years ago, I sold my iPhone 3G to get myself a Motorola Milestone and never looked back. Since buying the Moto, I’ve used a Nexus one: Desire HD, HTC HD7 (for about a week, then took it back, was not happy with WP7), HTC HD2 with an Android ROM, and now use the Nexus S. I genuinely didn’t ever think I would consider using something else until now... On Monday, Apple unveiled their latest iteration of iOS for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, bringing with it a host of new features—"200" new features,” as they claim to be precise. Rather than go through every single one, I’ll talk about the few that are making me consider getting an iPhone again:
Notifications The notifications on the previous iOS builds have always been something that everyone complained about; I’m surprised that it has taken Apple this long to sort it out. Every time someone sends you a text, email, or football score update, you get this giant, intruding bubble saying, “Hey! I don’t care that you're close to getting a high score on Angry Birds; Joe Bloggs has commented on your Facebook status,” and 9 out of 10 times, I don’t care. The notification system on IOS5 is nothing new; in fact, it’s eerily similar to Androids, but that doesn’t matter; it’s a genuine improvement, and it seems like they have listened to the users.
iCloud Okay, so I’m on my iPhone, and I hear the new Coldplay song. I go to iTunes on my iPhone and buy it, then download it straight to my phone. If I wanted that song on my iPad, iPod, or Mac, here is what I would have had to do previously: plug my iPhone into my Mac and do a sync (which isn’t always quick) so that it is on my Mac. Then I would have to plug in the iPad and the iPod individually and sync them. What you do now with iCloud is simply nothing. You buy it on iTunes, and it will automatically download itself everywhere else. It will also do it for just about everything else on your phone. Keep your files in the cloud and pull them down wherever you need them.
Twitter integration Realising that everyone and their aunt uses some sort of social networking site, Apple has added Twitter right into the OS. By logging in to the settings page, any one of the apps can access your Twitter. Tweet a video straight from the YouTube app, a webpage through Safari, or even a map from the app. A great little feature, although not revolutionary, is that you can now access the camera without unlocking the phone either. Imagine seeing a dog wearing glasses, then thinking, “I want to tweet this; @Johnyboy would love it,” taking a picture without unlocking your phone, and then tweeting it within a matter of seconds. Let's hope they add Facebook soon!
iMessage iMessage is essentially an instant messenger for Apple products (iPod touch, iPad, and iPhone). It’s built right into the messaging app; it will give you delivery receipts and notify you when the recipient has read your message. While this isn’t a new idea, Blackberry has been doing it for years with Blackberry Messenger. Honestly, if you’re given the choice between buying a BlackBerry or an iPhone, who wouldn’t choose the latter? More people own iOS devices than Blackberry, and being able to send photos, videos, and a whole host of other files to these people without encroaching on your monthly bill is a great feature. A lot of these features I can already access on my Android phone through a variety of apps available on the Android market. But since getting my Macbook, I really can’t argue against Apple’s usability, build quality, and ability to make all of their features work seamlessly together. At the moment, I couldn’t justify spending on a new phone, but I’m pretty sure that will change when they announce the iPhone 5, iPhone 4, or whatever they are going to call the next phone. But until then, I shall be sitting on the fence, looking at how green the grass is on the iOS side.
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