iOS 5 Previewed: WWDC 2011

Along with OS X Lion, iOS 5 was also detailed to huge crowd applause today at the 2011 World Wide Developer’s Conference. Here is a basic rundown on the many new features coming in the latest operating system across Apple’s iDevices.

• Notification Center- Single place combining all notifications, can get to it anytime by swiping down from top, shows stocks and weather, notifications no longer interrupt you (you get an animation from the top)
• Lock Screen Improvements- capable of showing much more information, can swipe across notification to go straight to the specific app
• News Stand- new listing in app store that combines all magazine/newspaper subscriptions, downloads automatically and can be read offline
• Twitter- built into iOS 5, sign-on info stored into settings, integrated inside camera app
• Safari App Improved- looks like instapaper, strips ads, parses through multiple pages to a single story, allows you to save stories to read later (Reading List), Reading list synched through multiple devices, tabbed browsing, tweet articles out from safari
• Reminders- brand new list-making app, multiple lists with dates to remind you, able to assign location for reminders a “geo-fence”, checkboxes for leaving and arrival
• Camera- way faster, lock screen shortcut, you double tap homebutton then tap camera icon, volume button can snap picture
• Mail- Rich text formatting, control indentation, search entire messages, system wide dictionary, draggable addresses
• New Keyboard options- can drag keyboard up, splits like ergonomic keyboard for better thumb typing,
• Over the air updates- PC FREE, no more reason to plug into a pc to register phone
• Game Center improvements- photos/avatars, recommend friends, purchase/download direct from Game Center,
• iMessages- new service between all iOS 5 users, like blackberry messager, looks like ichat,
• Airplay Mirroring
• WiFi sync to iTunes- when charging at night will find iTunes and back up and sync

iOS 5 will be available in the fall and supports iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, iPad 1 and 2, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th gens.