Apple has been much in the news lately as, besides Steve Job's passing, they have released a new phone, the iPhone 4S, and a new operating system for existing iPads and iPhones (and newer iPod Touches). I have not bought the iPhone 4S since I am happy with my 4, but I am tempted by its new artificially intelligent personal assistant, Siri. Siri helps you accomplish many tasks with voice commands such as texting, emailing, Internet searching, and adding items to the calendar. While this new feature is limited to those with the iPhone 4S, we all can give our iPads and iPhones a new brain and enhancements by upgrading to iOS5. I did a little video review of iOS 5 which you can see below; it is a pretty significant step for the operating system and will usher us into the "Post-PC" era. After upgrading to iOS5, you will no longer need to connect your device to a computer (or have one, for that matter) to sync and backup your data. I continue to say that it is important to have a laptop at least for work production, accessing Google docs (which are not so iPad-friendly) etc. Sorry the quality is not the best, it's still hard to make a recording where the hand gestures are important to see.
Note: I did read that the split keyboard is designed to help you when you are holding the iPad with 2 hands, so you can type with your thumbs. That makes sense. Note also that the multitouch gestures I demo here only will work on iPad 2.
I definitely recommend this upgrade (allow your iPad about 2 hrs to complete it), but definitely read this guide first. Some other good reads:
Top 10 iOS5 Features you should know about (App Advice)
Top 10 iCloud Features you should know about (App Advice)
How to set up Wi-Fi Sync for iOS5 (CNET)
Monday, October 17, 2011
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Hola! Long time reader, first time commenter here. Here's a blog post-length comment for your reading pleasure:
ReplyDelete1. I'm liking iOS 5 so far, generally, though it's significantly better on the iPhone 4 for me right now, than on my iPad 1. Seems the multitouch has been reserved for iPad 2 (unless I jailbreak, which I currently haven't done).
2. I wanted so badly to like the split keyboard idea, but it just doesn't do much for me. Typing longer notes or emails is hard, as the split keyboard overlaps with the text, and while you can slide the split keyboard upwards, it then becomes awkward to hold. The usual on-screen keyboard still works best for me, or otherwise a bluetooth keyboard, depending on what I'm up to.
3. I love the idea of mirroring, and definitely agree about the use of smartboards (despite being a medical SLP at this point in time). And then when I wear my post-secondary educational interpreter hat, I see a lot of potential for mirroring videos in a lecture. (Of course, as a sign language interpreter, I'm also a big proponent of open captioning; closed captioning never seems to work as provided, and captioning benefits every individual watching the video, regardless of how well they hear.)
Anyway, tl;dr. Thanks for the review! And also for pointing me to tinyumbrella. Totally just downloaded that.
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