Why hello there iOS 5.

It's true what they say, you never really hear anyone complain about switching to an iPhone or talk about how hard it is to use. Although I may be a fan boy you can't deny that it works well.

So this new version of iOS dropped yesterday and I installed it. While it isn't exactly ground breaking, it definitely makes things a little more convenient. One of the features that I was looking forward to is iMessage. It's basically BBM for your iPhone that's integrated with the regular Messages app. No silly BB pin to deal with either.

Basically, when you message someone it will consult the cloud (or something like that) and determine if you're sending it to an Apple device/account and, if so, pump fake your carrier, do a 720 no scope right in SMS's face and use your data plan instead. It all happens quickly and automatically, so you don't even need to try.

Bottom line: when you sext someone blue = iMessage and green = SMS.



iOS is now integrated with iCloud too. While I haven't figured out yet exactly what that means, I know that I have 5GB of storage somewhere, stuff needs it to run and parts of my iPhone can sync to it. There's also default integration with the Find My iPhone app as well, which is pretty cool for stalking yourself.

For those who use Stanza, Newsstand is there and pretty useless...and you can't even hide it in a folder. Great. (Update: turns out Stanza is not stable on iOS 5 in the least...)



Photos and the camera also got a little improvement too. You can enable a grid, do some basic editing and FINALLY create and organize photos into albums. That just took them forever.



Another one of the big things is Notifications - they all of a sudden copied Android got pimp. No longer do we have to deal with those lame blue bubbles popping up and interrupting your intense gaming session work-flow because it's been re-vamped.

You can still have those notifications pop up if you want, but they've introduced a less aggressive pull down screen consolidating all your important information at a glance. Smart.



Looks like notifications can remind you how boring your life is just about anywhere except for the lock screen. Just swipe down and that tab appears for you to pull down.



Although I was kind of disappointed to find out that Siri will only run on the 4S for now, the idea of talking to a robot is still kind of lame to me unexplored territory, so not a huge loss at this point. But we will see...