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iOS 5 First Impressions

Related to iOS 5 (i.e. iCloud):

  • It took about 45 minutes for the phone itself to update. The wireless, delta changes will go much more smoothly… one would hope.
  • iCloud was down for quite awhile. I was told after finally semi-converting to wait a "few" hours, then "about an hour," and then I was able to update.
  • It's still really impressive of Apple to have done this.
  • This required me to update Carey's computer despite her having an iPhone 3G until Friday. We're both now on iCloud. I had to update BusyCal as well as that had problems with the switch.
  • I like WiFi syncing. Even if it does sync mostly when I plug it into my computer or the power cord at night.
  • PhotoStream sucks. Do you know how many "one-time-use" type photos I take, or "mistake" photos? That I can't delete them from my stream is ridiculous. I've turned it off.
  • How creepy is it to have MobileMe still hanging around in your System Preferences? The only thing left is iDisk and I just turned off syncing.
  • A sad tear for the losses of Dock Item syncing, Keychain syncing, Preferences syncing, and whatever Mail stuff synced. The italicized one stinks, particularly keychain syncing.
  • I am seriously considering getting an AppleTV. I'm just not entirely sure where I'd put it. Would it replace my DVD player? As in… physically replace it?

iOS 5 Itself:

  • The new notifications system rocks. I specifically like how easy it is to customize how each app behaves.
  • Double-click for the camera? Volume up to snap a picture? Very nice addition.
  • Twitter integration is not bad. Haven't used it much.
  • Find My Friends… Eh. I'll add my wife and maybe a guy I work with. Outside of that… eh? And I thought you had to turn it on all the time, not that it's always on. Oh well. It's only gonna show me in one of about four places.
  • The new notification center is nice, but I wish I could determine which calendars showed up in the calendar widget.
  • Reminders doesn't have badges. That's one of the things I like about Simple To Do. I could ditch Simple To Do if I could have a badge.
  • Speaking of Reminders, mine hasn't offered to set up a geofence. Does that not work on a 3GS???
  • I like the refined UI touches. Flatter "bubbles" and the new "Snooze" look and so on.
  • iMessage is sweet.
  • The keyboard shortcuts (whatever they're called) are pretty sweet.
  • Newsstand is particularly annoying because it acts like a "folder" on its own and can't be moved off and hidden somewhere. I really wish Apple let you hide some apps you never want to see.

More tk as I think of them.

I'll have a question tomorrow about the kiddo getting to use my old iPhone 3GS as her "iPod Touch." If you've set up a kid's device please come back and share your opinions and advice! 🙂