If you were on the Internet today, you couldn't help but be inundated by the iOS 5 announcement at WWDC. Rene from our sister site TiPb was there on the floor, and they have done a great job covering it all -- and there was a lot to cover. But all the new announcements leave Android (as well as other smartphone OS) fans feeling a bit of deja vu, as we've already seen most of it. Hit the break and have a look.
Notifications have been revamped in iOS, and now you have a drop down you can use to see them. Just like Android since day one. It had to come, ask anyone who has used an iDevice and they will tell you -- Apple's way was horrible. Toast notification pop-ups that interrupt what you're trying to do just don't cut it in 2009...err 2011, and Apple finally did the right thing and listened to it's users.
Lock Screen info (don't say widgets!) is now available. Hard to tell if we should credit HTC or CyanogenMod with this one. Either way, you now can actually do more than unlock your iThing from the lock screen. You can even launch the camera using the volume up key -- unless music is playing I imagine.
Twitter integration now goes deep into iOS. You can even send a picture to Twitter, right from the gallery! Magical, I say. Or not magical, and called intents, and something that has also been around for quite a while. They're handy, and it should have been offered ages ago -- and they were in other platforms like Android.
iBBM..err iMessage. Hello Apple, I'm gonna let you finish, but RIM has the best platform specific chat app of all time. Straight out of last decade, this one. iMessage offers push messaging with typing indication and delivery receipts. Probably even notifications in the status bar, which really is a great thing. So great, that third party apps have been doing it for about a year, and BlackBerry has done it since the dawn of time. Wait for the patents and trademarks I'll bet.
At least Apple is now cutting back on the use of the USB data cable. New in this release is wifi sync to iTunes, OTA updates, and iCloud will sync your calendar, contacts, and mail right to your devices. For free. Just like Gmail. iTunes in the cloud brings music downloads to 10 devices at no extra charge, something never before seen in the music industry. Except for Amazon and Google, of course. Too bad they didn't "borrow" streaming. And we can't forget iTunes Match, which gives you official copies of music you've already bought -- for $25 a year. Sort of like Rdio, Spotify, Rhapsody, Zune player, and so on.
Before you cue the bloodlust -- we're just poking fun at Apple before we get tired of hearing magical, revolutionary buzzwords that change everything. We're glad to see Apple offer things the users want, even if it did come at the expense of more than a few iOS developers' livelyhoods. I'm actually pretty excited about the cord cutting wireless sync, even if carriers won't be. It's just hard to resist some good natured fun at the expense of Steve and company, especially when credit for any of these revolutionary ideas wasn't given to those who have done them first. We don't hate you for using an iPhone, and now you can be a little more productive with it come this fall thanks to great developers and their ideas.
Have you listened to this week's Android Central Podcast?
Every week, the Android Central Podcast brings you the latest tech news, analysis and hot takes, with familiar co-hosts and special guests.
