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Top 10 Best Features of the iPhone 5

1. The Larger and Brighter Screen

The new 4-inch screen lets you see a lot more information on the screen at once. And the display is now 18% brighter than the display on the iPhone 4S.

2. Faster Network Speed

The iPhone 5 has built-in wireless LTE technology that connects to faster networks. This makes email downloads and web browsing so much faster. Most pages and emails load almost instantly.

I also like the fact that Safari has a Save For Later feature that saves the pages for offline viewing, such as when the phone is set to flight mode.

3. Improved Speakers / Audio

The iPhone 5 now has three microphones, and noise cancelling technology. I’ve already noticed an improvement in calls that I’ve placed while on speakerphone.

And if you prefer to use your headphones, then I have good news. Apple also included newly designed headphones. The headphones are more comfortable than before, and fit in your ear more naturally. They also come with a plastic carrying case.

4. Improved Camera

There is an improved camera that has better HDR capabilities and faster picture taking speeds. The camera now supports panoramic photos up to 240 degrees.

This isn’t new with iOS6, but I also love the fact that my iPhone 5 also allows me to take a picture from the power on screen before entering my password or finger swipe (so I don’t lose the opportunity to capture an important photo opportunity).

5. FaceTime Over Cellular

You can now use FaceTime over a cellular connection, and not just WiFi. This means that you no longer have to hunt for a WiFi hotspot before you can call someone through FaceTime.

Note that with AT&T, you have to sign up for one of their new data share plans for this feature to work.

When I switched to the share plan that enabled this, I found out that it also allows my iPhone 5 to serve as a hotspot for my laptop and other devices. So that’s a bonus.

6. Improved Email App

The email app has been improved in several ways to make you more efficient. For example, there is now a VIP email folder where you can see all of your most important messages in a single list.

This allows you to respond to the most important emails first, before you weed through the emails of much lower priority.

Although it’s not new with iOS6, I also love the dictation you can do right within email, notes, and other apps. That feature was added with iOS5. You just hit record on the keyboard and start talking, and then press done. What you said will appear on the screen a few seconds later.

I dictated several emails, notes, and text messages this week using this feature, and it worked great. The accuracy was amazing, and it saved me a ton of time.

7. More Calling Options

You now have a lot more control over how to handle incoming calls. You can decline the call but send a pre-defined text message to that person, or you can add a reminder to call them back later.

8. Deeper Facebook and Twitter Integration

You can access Facebook and Twitter from numerous apps on your iPhone 5 and post status updates with just a few clicks.

9. Passbook App

The Passbook app allows you to keep various tickets all in one place. You can search for Passbook-enabled apps in the App Store.

You can keep boarding passes, movie tickets, and numerous other types of tickets inside your Passbook app for easy retrieval later. The bar codes for these tickets can be scanned right from your iPhone.

In fact, Passbook works based upon time and location too. So your boarding pass can automatically appear when you arrive at the airport.

10. Improved Version of Siri (Your Virtual Assistant)

Siri now understands more questions than ever before. She can help you with finding a good restaurant, sending an email to someone, adding a calendar reminder, and so much more.

IOS 5: Complete List Of 200+ New Features

IOS 5: Complete List Of 200+ New Features

List of all 200 new features of iOS 5
  1. Notification Center: New Notification System
  2. Improved app notifications at the top
  3. Lock screen notifications. Swipe will open related app.
  4. Notification options to choose for each app.
  5. Notification sorting by app, time etc.
  6. iMessage: Text messaging between iOS devices over Wi-Fi or 3G
  7. Newstand: Similar to iBooks to store, auto-download magazine subscriptions & new issues.
  8. Reminders: A list of reminders with Geo-fence integrated with Calendar app
  9. Twitter Integration: Log in to Twitter from settings once and Tweet anything from Safri, Photos, YouTube etc. Similar to login & sharing used by Mail.app
  10. AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2: Duplicate the iPad screen on television wirelessly
  11. iCloud integration: A new free service with more than 5GB data to be shared between iOS devices
  12. Open Camera.app from lock screen: Double tapping on Home button will open the Camera.app from lock screen
  13. Take pictures from lock screen: Volume up button can be used to take pictures
  14. Camera Grid: For more precise focus and accurate photography. This feature was available on Camera+ app
  15. Camera Zoom: Pinch-to-zoom Gesture like Photos.app on Camera.app
  16. One tap Auto Focus and Auto Exposure
  17. Lock Auto Exposure & Auto Focus for consistency.
  18. Swipe Left to open camera roll
  19. Crop Photos: Not available on 3GS
  20. Enhance Color tones of photos: Not available on 3GS
  21. Rotate Photos:
  22. Red-eye removal: Remove, correct Red-eye within Photos.app
  23. Photo Stream via iCloud over all your iOS devices
  24. Organize photos within Camera Roll
  25. Tabbed Browsing in Safari: For iPad only
  26. Safari Reader: Like RSS reader
  27. Safari Reading List: Save web pages for offline reading
  28. Improved Performance: Like it was enhanced in 4.3.3
  29. Private Browsing: Similar to Firefox / Incognito on Chrome.
  30. Website specific data can be deleted
  31. Cut the cord: Activate and setup iOS device without a Mac or PC
  32. Over-The-Air (OTA) iOS Software Updates: Again, no need of a computer & cord
  33. Delta Software Updates: Upgrade only changed files. No need to download & install entire OS. (Similar to WordPress!)
  34. Wi-Fi Sync: Sync iOS device with PC or Mac over Wi-Fi
  35. Backup and Restore from iCloud account
  36. Sync Exchange tasks
  37. Downloads: See a list of downloaded apps from App Store from any of your iOS device
  38. Rich Text Formatting for Composing Mail (Bold, Italics, Underline, etc.)
  39. Improved offline support for Mail.app
  40. Indentation Control
  41. Drag-able email addresses: Drag, arrange email addresses in To, CC, BCC fields
  42. Improved mail search: Full content search in Mail
  43. Flag Emails
  44. S/MIME Security
  45. Profile picture for Game Center
  46. Friend recommendations for Game Center
  47. Games recommendation
  48. Friends-of-friends list
  49. App Store in Game Center: App store integrated within Game Center to find & buy new Apps / Games
  50. New Achievements like Perks, Points
  51. Play turn-based games within Game Center
  52. Swipe-Up with 4-5 fingers for multitasking bar (iPad only)
  53. Swipe-Left or Swipe-Right with 4-5 fingers to switch between running apps (iPad only)
  54. Pinch with 4-5 fingers for the home screen (iPad only)
  55. New Split keyboard: For easier typing on iPad
  56. New Keyboard Shortcuts (Not sure what it is)
  57. Emoji Emoticons: Emoticons like we see in IMs now for iOS devices. Mostly with iMessage!
  58. LED Flash for incoming calls and notifications for better accessibility
  59. Custom vibration for incoming calls for better accessibility
  60. VoiceOver improvements including custom element labeling
  61. Custom tones for Calendar events
  62. Custom tone for Received Mail
  63. Custom tone for Sent mail
  64. Custom tone for Voice-mail
  65. Year view on Calendar: iPad only
  66. Week view on Calendar: For iPhone & iPod
  67. New Music App: Redesigned only for iPad
  68. Music & Video: Two separate apps for iPhone (Instead of Video inside iPod app)
  69. Scroll for long song titles
  70. Song description: Tap & hold on a song title for description
  71. Smart Playlists: Sync smart playlists from iTunes.
  72. Weather Forecasts updates hourly
  73. On-location Weather: Determines current location. Custom locations can be added/
  74. Alternate routes in Maps
  75. Print Maps: Print location, direction maps
  76. Twitter Pictures: Use Twitter pictures for contacts with integrated Twitter
  77. Auto Download in background: Newstand issues, apps can be downloaded in background once subscribed.
  78. Sync in background: Now possible to use iOS device while it is still syncing in background
  79. Links in background: Safari links, iTunes links can be opened in background
  80. Space usage: Determine space used by each app, supported file types under settings
  81. iCloud usage: Determine space used on iCloud under settings
  82. Change device name: Change iOS device name on-the-go via settings
  83. Some GUI Improvements
  84. Personal Dictionary: Create & store own words for re-use
  85. Built-in Dictionary: Built-in dictionary app
  86. iTunes Tone Store: Choose, Buy, Install custom tones
  87. Improved FaceTime video quality
  88. VoiceOver Item Chooser
  89. Speak Text:Speak text based on selection
  90. Delete recent calls: Delete single or one-by-one recent call list
  91. Delete app data: Delete saved games, saved data for specific apps / games
  92. Time mid-call invitation alerts
  93. Download Multiple Apps: Now its possible to download and install multiple apps instead of one-by-one.
  94. Delete songs: Check to Delete songs / playlists on iOS device (It’s already possible I guess in 4.3.3 or its here on my phone only for me? )
  95. New Keyboard Shortcuts: Type OMG and it will type Oh My God.
  96. Custom Text Tones: Custom SMS tones. (Yeah, I think it’s there)
  97. Auto Sync backup: It takes backup of the file on the device. Hence restoring from scratch is made easy. No need to grab all apps one-by-one. Saves lot of time.
  98. ‘Install’ link instead of Price if the app is already bought.
  99. Silent Switch: Shows volume level along with the Bell icon while switching back from Silent to Ringer (Currently it shows only the Bell icon)
  100. Hotmail accounts have new icons & folders
  101. Sync events, contacts, notes with predefined accounts under Mail.app (Like Hotmail, Gmail etc)
  102. Marked Apps: All apps that are downloaded on iOS device for your account are marked as FREE (Free to download if they’re & free to download because you’ve already purchased them)
  103. Arabic language support for VoiceOver
  104. Icon Badges: Option to turn ON or OFF icon badges for apps. (Red circle with update)
  105. Accessible input for mobility
  106. Assistive Touch Gestures: Allows us to use iPhone with adaptive accessories while controlling touch sensitivity.
  107. FaceTime over 3G: Yes, it is now possible. Not yet available for developers though.
  108. Unsecured call notifications: I am not sure why does this prompt for confirmation for calls saying network is not encrypted! (Is this a feature or incomplete program?)
  109. Mid-call Invitation Alert: If the phone is busy, we can still receive a placed conference call (Description is my interpretation)
  110. Free @me.com email address: Yes. With iCloud integration, all iOS 5 users will get @me.com email ID
  111. Custom Gestures: Create and save custom gestures. Mainly for motor-disables persons for use with AssistiveTouch accessories
  112. Swipe-Left can let you browse through day-view one-by-one in Calendar
  113. FaceTime without Sim card: FaceTime can now be activated and used either via a phone number or email address (Apple ID)
  114. Unknown Caller details: When received a call from number that is not on contacts – the display also shows city name associated with the area code. Currently it shows in recent calls list only (I think I have seen this feature before on 4.2.1. Did you? )
  115. Vibrate Alert for sent & received emails (What is they come-and-go the same time? Confusing?)
  116. Real-TIme stock updates
  117. Multiple Mark Read: Can now select & mark multiple emails as read.
  118. Pause Timer: It’s possible to pause the Timer instead of ‘Cancel’
  119. New German Keyboard
  120. 1080p Playback support for iPad. (Awesome)
  121. Social Networking Integration: Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace along with Twitter (Options under Settings.app but not sure if integrated throughout the OS like Twitter)
  122. Headphone Balance: Option to choose Left & Right balance for headphones under Accessibility
  123. Mono audio option for headphones under accessibility (except to choose balance as mentioned above)
  124. Cellular Network for App Store: Option to Enable or Disable using Cellular Network (GPRS, 3G) to download apps from the App Store. (This is excellent!)
  125. Disable In-App Purchase: Ability to completely disable In-App purchases
  126. iTunes Password Prompt: It is now possible to set frequency for iTunes Password prompt to appear.
  127. Storage Usage Clean Up: We can not only see what files have taken up the space but we can empty that space with single wipe like Apps, Game’s saved data, Music, Videos etc.
  128. Equalizer Presets: These are now more BASS oriented (Most likely)
  129. Improved Sound Check for music
  130. RSA ID is now available when setting up VPN. (Thanks @jaytrixz for this update). This is for performing two-factor authentication for a user to a network resource.
  131. Folders for Mail: Yes. Possible for any allowed mail account including new Hotmail. (I mentioned about Hotmail above but this is new feature for all accounts & thanks @Karl for this info)
  132. Hide Keyboard: Hide (Dismiss) keyboard button whenever necessary. (This is for iPad only. Not for iPhone. Confirmed)
  133. Find My iPhone: This is available as a part of iCloud integration with an option to disable it. (Thanks Michael for confirmation)
  134. Scrolling Titles for YouTube videos
  135. Double tap the home button on YouTube while watching a video to see who uploaded that video 

    (Thanks @JohnothanVincentCrook for pointing it out)

  136. HD YouTube video if connected to 3G
  137. Option to disable HQ (HD) video playback over 3G
  138. Take pictures using headphone remote: If you have headphone with remote them it is possible to take picture using Volume UP button. (Very useful if you have a tripod. Please confirm if anyone saw this!)
  139. Animated GIF image support for iMessage. Does not animate in Photos.app
  140. Hold and drag events from within different dates or time
  141. Tapping and holding back button in Safari will show-up visited website history (iPad only)
  142. Current time on Calendar if in landscape mode
  143. New voices for Voice-Over
  144. Option to display Stock & Weather widgets in Notification Center
  145. Add family relations to contacts.
  146. Restrictions with password required for purchases if enabled
  147. Enable / Disable option for voice-dial if the phone is set to security with pass-code lock.
  148. Purchase history on app store
  149. Automatically set time for iPod Touches
  150. Auto Correct & Spell Check are independent options.
  151. Broadcast song information on devices (like car stereo) when connected over Bluetooth
  152. New keyboard with prominent #(hash-tag) and @ buttons for Twitter app like we have a prominent ‘.com’ button for Safari address bar.
  153. iPod app renamed to Music: How could I missed it writing here!
  154. Enhanced Mail.app even in offline mode and sync back when online (like for deleted emails)
  155. Help center: Learn more about every option under settings app to explore more about it
  156. New notification alerts within mail app if you forgot to write a subject line (Similar to Gmail!)
  157. Hourly Weather Forecasts: Tap the current day and it will display hour-by-hour weather forecast. (This is separate from hourly weather update mentioned above)
  158. En dash (–): Tap and hold hyphen (-) key to see & insert En dash. Em dash is already there.
  159. Third-party Cables: Support for almost all third-party TV-out cables. No need to download Resupported from Cydia. This would be one of the major features if true. (Can someone without jailbroken iPhone confirm this?)
  160. Choose Notification Type: Banner notifications or the classic pop-up notifications (for each app)
  161. Mail Sidebar: Can be swiped in or out
  162. Install Twitter from Settings app (Twitter integration as one feature each? see below points)
  163. Tweet Location: in Maps
  164. Tweet Picture: from the camera roll
  165. Tweet Website URL: from Safari
  166. Tweet Video: from YouTube
  167. Backup homescreen layout on iCloud (Please confirm)
  168. Backup app data on iCloud (Like game saves etc)
  169. Backup purchased music, apps, and books on iCloud
  170. Backup SMS and MMS
  171. Backup ringtone(s)
  172. Backup contacts
  173. Schedule daily OTA (Over the air) iCloud backup
  174. Message / iMessage: Repeat alerts up to 10 times
  175. iOS crash reports to Apple with options: Send automatically or Don’t send.
  176. Nuance Speech to Text: Not available in current beta but the most anticipated feature in final release.
  177. Sync bookmarks, highlight from iBooks across devices
  178. iMessages show a blue colored bubble to easily distinguish
  179. Group messaging in iMessage
  180. Delivery Reports
  181. Read receipts for iMessage (enable from Settings)
  182. See if other person is typing in iMessage (like in IMs)
  183. Add Social Media info in to contacts
  184. New rounded toggle switch
  185. New separate Video app & icon
  186. Nitro JavaScript speed improvements for Web Apps
  187. iMessage will be sent as a text message in case iMessage is not available
  188. Custom vibration for each contact so each pattern can let know who’s calling
  189. New ‘Message’ option for iPod Touch under settings to use iMessage using an email ID
  190. Setup AirPort device
  191. Maximum recent email messages limit to 1000 instead of 200
  192. Create & manage photo albums within Photos.app on device itself. (How did I miss this before? Thanks Joaquin for letting me know.)
  193. (Custom) gesture-based lock-screen (Ability to define a custom gesture to unlock iPhone without need of a pass-code. This is not confirmed but rumored to be included in later releases of iOS 5. Do you see any benefit?)
  194. Double tap the home button on lock screen to launch YouTube videos (Received an email about it. It was nice to have double tapping to play music. Why would they change? Someone please confirm if this is correct ) 

    This is not correct. Instead it gives iPod controls and Take picture from home.

  195. SMS tones sound like they have been shortened than those were provided on iPhone 4 (Anyone felt it that way?)
  196. While reading an email – swiping right would open a list of messages and swipe left would bring back to the open email message again. (Like if you’re reading an email from Inbox, it will take you to Inbox)
  197. If you have multiple email accounts configured in Mail.app – swipe left or right from one’s mailboxes folder list, it will take you to another account’s mailboxes. (from Google Mail to Hotmail or back)
  198. iTunes App: Support for match & find songs based on previous song purchases.
  199. Free upgrade to 256 kbps bit-rate for purchased songs if backing up on iCloud
  200. Support for multiple audio devices (Could not understand exact meaning of this)
  201. Mirror iPhone 4 on Apple TV (Someone with Apple TV please confirm)
  202. Skip tracks by swiping left – right on album art itself when not on lock screen (iPad only)
  203. The name of the person that respond, appears in small light blue text directly above the response when SMS is sent to a group. (Thanks Melvin Baskin for emailing this)
  204. Drag Keyboard on iPad: Drag keyboard up / down the screen wherever it is needed. It works for split keyboard as well.
The following are iOS 5 Beta 2 Features
  1. Hide keyboard in Messages: This is new and good. While in conversations, just tap outside keyboard and pull ‘up’ to scroll and it hides the keyboard.
  2. Set custom tone for Reminders
  3. Newly designed classic pop-up notifications. Glossy. Takes the full width of the screen.
  4. ‘Slide to View/Reply’: Whenever you get this new classic pop-up for new message. After a certain interval if you don’t respond, the same goes to notification center in a drawer.
  5. Change in notification behavior. It appears as classic first then goes in to a notification center’s drawer. (Mostly under testing and review I guess. They should revert back to Beta 1 behavior)
  6. WiFi sync displays that is being synced like apps, songs and their names. Like in iTunes.
  7. Notification center displays Calendar tasks for the day continuously until they trigger. (Otherwise it used pop-up on scheduled time only.) . More options for this under Settings.
  8. Videos in apps and websites are enabled for AirPlay by default.
  9. Enhanced GUI for Clock app (Can we call it a feature? Not sure.)
  10. OTA updates available through WiFi and 3G network
  11. View file extensions (JPG / PNG) for pictures when tap ‘Edit’ in Photos.app
  12. ‘Tell a Friend’ in AppStore collects information about that particular app like a Facebook link share pop-up with name, thumbnail and description.
  13. Delete apps while downloading: Ability to delete apps while they’re still getting downloaded and installed. This was not possible until 4.3.3
  14. “Group by Album Artist” option for Music
  15. Slight re-design for text messages. Font & time-stamp layout
  16. Slight re-design for video time-line under Photos app
  17. Super fast HTML5 draw support with rate of 31 fps. (Google Chrome 12 on Windows was 33 fps, iPhone 3Gs with 4.3.3 was 3 fps, Firefox 5 was 25 fps)
  18. Kinetic scrolling within text fields in Safari.
The following are iOS 5 Beta 3 Features.
  1. New icon design for Reminders
  2. Option to send or do not send location information to Apple
  3. System-wide location services control in addition to apps which we already have.
  4. Speed improvements
  5. Voice roaming ON / OFF toggle just like Data Roaming toggle
  6. Advanced preferences for Safari for data removal and debug information
  7. Create mailboxes from within Mail.app
  8. Advanced Assistive Touch control panel & functions for accessibility.
  9. Custom tones for almost everything under ‘Sounds’ with ‘Buy more tones’ button. (including most requested custom tone feature for text messages / SMS)
  10. Music app has a ‘Store’ button that takes us to iTunes Store
  11. Airplay feature now available to Facetime calls. So we can now see that video on TV :)
The following are iOS 5 Beta 4 Features
  1. File names in iCloud Storage are case-sensitive. (Also if you’re using Beta version then it is advised not to store critical data on iCloud because it might get purged before Gold release.)
  2. Documents / Data can now be selected to sync with iCloud account.
  3. Option to disable iCloud Sync via cellular network to save cost especially if roaming.
  4. Wireless sync on Windows, in-app and website videos works on AirPlay (This was mentioned above before but works now)
The following are iOS 5 Beta 5 Features
  1. Hearing Aid Mode: Under Accessibility settings for better audio output for every function that takes place on the phone.
  2. New Camera Button: There is a new camera button on Photos.app that takes us back to Camera instead of a ‘Done’ button (on OS prior to this) to close the Camera Roll.
  3. Microphone button added for Nuance Speech-to-text alongside space-bar key. Not yet active but should be in next beta. (This is in continuation with point 176 above )
  4. With iOS 5 beta 5 on the iPod Touch 4th Gen, if you enable ‘Change with buttons’ under sounds in settings, when you use a volume button it now calls it ‘Sound Effects’instead of ‘Ringer’ (Thanks icey590 for the info)
The following are iOS 5 Beta 6 Features
  1. Application Updates in Background: Ability to update installed applications when an update is available without closing iTunes AppStore. It works when you open AppStore and navigate to ‘Purchased Apps’. Superb little addition that finally takes care of  oldest iOS annoyance
  2. 4G / LTE (Long Term Evolution) Ready: It’s too early but iOS 5 latest beta build suggests that Apple is already testing 4G network in next version of iPhone – probably iPhone 5? :)
  3. Built-in Earthquake Notification for Japanese Users: Apple has recently added a special safety feature for Japanese users after a massive devastating earthquake hit japan earlier this year. Japanese users can enable or disable this notification which is continuously connected to Japan’s earthquake warning system and can show warnings in minutes, seconds before the earthquake. It may eat-up lot of battery power due to its continuous data fetching from the warning system. But it’s a great feature added by Apple to show they care about safety.
  4. New Cards app: Compose, Send, Print beautiful cards to beloved ones. Printing service is also available from none other than Apple itself. Shipping, Push-notifications from UPSC about the shipment. (The world is trying to save paper. Somebody please tell Apple)
  5. Find Friends & Family: Easily locate friends and family from the device. Limited social-networking. Kind of Foursquare
  6. Artificial Intelligence called Siri: (This feature is initially available in iPhone 4S but Apple might port it to iPhone 4 due to heavy public demand. If they don’t – I guess jailbreakers can port it just like they ported multi-tasking. Siri should get shipped in OS irrespective of the device so its only matter of enabling it from default disabled mode.) I have this feature covered under speech-to-text but I am putting it here because it looks like more than that. We can actually order something and Siri responds to our requests. She just does not listen but thinks upon it. This is a typical Apple kind of innovation that keeps them on-top. No mobile phone has this feature.
  7. Enhancement on Exchange accounts that have Mail disabled, now receive calendar invites with notifications and ability to accept/decline/tentatively respond. (Previously, if mail was disabled you would not receive calendar/meeting invites, the meeting would merely show up on your calendar as tentative, and even then it only shows up if the invite was received & added to the calendar in Outlook running on a laptop etc.) As emailed by Roland Theron
Updates to the above may have already been distributed.


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iOS 5 – What to expect and more news on release date

iOS 5 is the next mobile operating system for Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad devices. Announced this summer at WWDC, the software has been in beta testing for the past several months, and is due for a fall release, which we expect to come close to the iPhone 5 release date.

IOS 5 brings a collection of new features, and should give users who are unable to upgrade to the new iPhone a taste of something new that will tide them over, hopefully until the next iPhone arrives or their contract expires.

After using the iOS 5 beta fer several months, the staff at GottaBeMobile is excited to have the finished product, even those of us who will load it onto an iPhone 3GS.

iOS 5 Release Date

Apple has only given “fall” as an iOS 5 release date, which leaves anytime between September 23rd and December 22nd. The good news is that we don’t expect to wait until December. We had heard previously that iOS 5 would be released on October 10th, which is a possibility given the rumored October 13th iPhone 5 release date.

In the past, Apple has released the new versions of iOS a few days ahead of the new hardware, a tradition we expect to hold true even with the off the wall iPhone 5 release of 2011.

Apple releases iOS 5 early so that any support issues from users who have issues upgrading can be worked out with customer service before a slew of activations and first time iPhone owners need assistance.

iOS 3 was released on June 17th, two days ahead of the iPhone 3GS, and iOS 4 was released on June 21st, three days before the iPhone 4.

iOS 5 Release Date

iOS 5 has reached its record seventh round of beta testing and I’m at the point to where I’m really, REALLY ready for it to be my last development install before a final version to the iPhone 5 seeing release date any day now after an imminent announcement event. iOS is the operating system and interface which drives Apple’s iPhone and iPad lines, and while the new iOS 5 will work on various devices, history points to its release being nearly simultaneous with that of the iPhone 5 as Apple has structured its new iPhone launches in that manner for the past four years.

Never in iOS history have there been this many rounds of developer beta testing. Then again, never has there been this much time elapsed between the introduction of new iPhone models. The iPhone 5 will arrive at least fifteen months after the iPhone 4, going against Apple’s traditionally consistent twelve month spans. So what’s magical about beta 7? The sheer number of beta releases suggests that iOS 5 has essentially been ready for some time, and that Apple’s software team has merely been taking advantage of the extra time for additional fine tuning. And if Apple has set things up such that iOS 5 is already finished, that means it expects the iPhone 5 to be ready any day now. A couple of factors still influence just when the new iPhone will see announcement and a release date.

The primary holdup comes from Apple having a sufficient number of iPhone 5 units so as to pull off a successful launch. Over the past two years, both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 arrived on the market with an insufficient number of initial units, causing many of those waiting in line on the release date to end up going home empty handed, and prompting outcry which resulted in negative publicity as store shelves continued to lack inventory for the first few months of the product cycle. Apple appears to be going out of its way to avoid a repeat performance with the iPhone 5, manufacturing as many as a hundred and fifty thousand units per day as we speak, with the initial order having reportedly been as large as fifteen million. But there are other factors in determining the iPhone 5 release date beyond merely building up a chest of inventory.

Between the announcement and release date of the iPhone 5, Apple will want time to build up its marketing message through avenues ranging from television ads to media reports emanating from its launch event. The multitude of iPhone retail partners will also need time to gear up for the launch day, which typically sees an inordinate number of people crowd retailers, requiring them to carry extra staff that day. The iPhone 5 also marks the first iPhone model to launch on Verizon from day one, which means the carrier will need to handle its own set of preorders as it gears up to meet four years worth of built up demand. The same goes for Sprint if reports of it gaining the iPhone 5 are true.