Apple officially unveiled iOS 5 yesterday at its Worldwide Developers Conference. While there are over 200 new features coming to iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch), we are going to highlight the top 6 that are especially useful to the real estate industry.
1. Notifications
iOS 5 includes a new Notification Center that will replace the annoying popups that appear of the screen and then disappear. You will now be able to view all of your notifications from one central location and even view your messages without having to unlock your phone. Tap on any message and it will automatically take you to that application. It not only includes app notification, but mini-widgets that show live information from apps like Weather.
2. iMessage
Sending and receiving text messages can be expensive. Free text messages is one reason why REbliss recommends using Google Voice.
iMessage will not fully replace text messages but does let you to send unlimited text messages, photos, and videos to other iOS 5 devices. Because it works between all iOS 5 devices, you can leave conversations on your iPhone and continue them in your iPad.
Other features include group messaging, an indicator to see if someone is typing to you, delivery and read receipts, and secure encryption. iMessage will work on 3G and Wi-Fi networks.
3. Reminders
The new reminder app will sync between your iOS 5 devices and your Max OS X desktop or notebook. The best feature about the app is that it is location aware. Do you need to make a phone call or send an email as soon as you get into the office? The app can remind you to do something when you arrive or leave a destination allowing you to stay productive while on the go.
4. Wi-Fi sync
If you take a lot photos and videos with your iPhone you probably now how painful it can be to sync your iPhone with iTunes. There a numerous apps available that let you sync your iPhone to your computer over Wi-Fi but now this functionality if built into the operating system.
With iOS 5 you will no longer have to plug into your computer to backup and sync your device. Just plug your device into the power cord within range of your Wi-Fi network and it will backup and sync automatically.
5. Twitter Integration
Still not sure if you should be using Twitter in your real estate business? iOS5 integrates Twitter everywhere, in the camera app, to your contacts, and even the YouTube, Safari, and Maps app will support direct sharing via Twitter.
Will Apple’s Twitter integration finally convince you to sign up or start using Twitter?
6. New Camera App and Photos
The new camera app is a welcome addition to anyone who takes a lot of photos and videos with their iPhone. iOS 5 gives you immediate access to the camera right from the lock screen. This will make it much easier to take photos quickly.
The most exciting feature is that you can now use the volume button to take photos. If you haven’t used an app with the volume button feature to take photos you will be surprised by how much you will like this feature.
Introducing iOS 5
Click HERE if you can not see the video above.
The Bottom Line
While many of the new features of iOS 5 are already available on Android, Palm or Windows Phone 7 phones, they will make iOS devices much more productive.
The new notification center is a great way to keep track of all of your messages in one convenient location, iMessage will let your real estate business chat with groups of co-workers, clients, or friends at one time, and the new reminders app will let you stay productive with its location based reminders.
iOS 5 will also include multitasking gestures for the iPad, hourly weather forecasts, Wi-Fi sync with iTunes, a split keyboard for the iPad, a new iPad music app, an iTunes ringtone store, AirPlay mirroring for the iPad 2, a personal dictionary, alternate routes in Maps, Emoji emoticons, and custom vibration patterns.
If you are a developer, you can preview iOS 5 now, everyone else will have to wait until July when it is officially released.
Visit apple.com for more information about iOS 5.
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I bet this was a trending topic on Twitter yesterday. I saw a techie friend locally talking about it and he was excited. Regarding texting, I’ve been using “WhatsApp Messanger” lately. It’s free and compatible between the iPhone and Android. I know that’s off topic, but your post did mention texting.
Hey Ryan. Thanks for the comment. I am pretty excited about this update, especially the new notification system. This is one of the areas where the Android OS is superior to Apple. I haven’t used WhatsApp Messenger, it looks really cool, cross platform and has group chat. The problem I find is that is takes a small amount of change, the people you text need the app too, usually not a big deal especially if you get free text messages out of it. I use Google Voice for my text messaging, the people I text don’t have to have an app to receive me texts, they just look like normal texts, the one downside is that it does not support picture texts. It looks like Whatsapp does support MMS and looks like a great app. Thanks for the tip, I will have to download it!
Thanks for the recap Bryan. I espcially like the wi-fi sync.
Thanks for the post, Bryan. I haven’t had a chance to check out the info on the upcoming version. It looks nice and certainly some great enhancements. I’m likin’ #1 – notifications, 3- reminders, 4- wi-fi sync.
Thanks Tom. You are right, Wi-Fi sync will be very nice.
Thanks Wendell. I am looking forward to the update!