iPhone 4S: Top 10 iOS Features that Will Blow You Away (PHOTOS)

By | October 05 2011 10:11 AM

Photo: Reuters

iCloud

iCloud is at the center of a lot of the new apps and improvements Apple is putting into the new mobile OS. Apple offers 5GB of free storage to any iOS5 or OX Lion users. The cloud stores all types of media such as music, TV shows, apps and photos. It also pushes content to your other devices automatically. So if you buy a song on your MacBook it will automatically send it to your iPhone.

Photo: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

Safari Update

Safari will come with a few new functions, one enabling tabbed browsing. Safari Reader is a new feature that will strip away ads and distractions while reading online articles. Web surfers will just have to press a gray button to the right of the URL and a cleaned up versions with only text and pictures appears. Readers can also save articles to the iCloud and read it later on another device.

Photo: Reuters

Reminders

Reminders is a pretty comprehensive to-do list app. It’s integrated with iCalendar and will shows up in the new Notification Center. One of the cool things about this app is reminders can be location based. So students can remind themselves of what homework they have due when they walk onto campus.

Photo: APPLE

Notification Center

Reminders, iCalendar events, new e-mails and texts will now all be in the same place. Notifications will also be less intrusive. Instead of a text messages popping up in the middle of a screen, it will appear at the top of the display. So updates and notifications will no longer interrupt intense gaming sessions. There will also be an option to have notifications on the Lock screen.

Photo: Reuters

iMessage

iMessage is a powerful messaging app that if free to all iOS5 users. It allows them to send unlimited free texts to other iPhone, iPod and iPad users over Wi-Fi or 3G. People will also be able to send photos, videos, contacts and locations over the network. Also included are group conversations, delivery receipts and optional read receipts and the ability to see if the other person is typing.

Photo: Reuters

Better Camera Functionality

Apple is going to put a camera icon right next to the slide button on the Lock screen. This will help when unexpected photo op arise. While taking the photo, users can pitch zoom, use grid lines, tap focus and lock the exposure for more control. There is also on-board picture editing that enables photographers to crop, red-eye reduce and auto enhance photos. After snapping the shot, iCloud will push the photos to an online picture album.

Photo: REUTERS

Twitter Integration

After a few settings changes, iPhone users will be able to tweet with even greater ease. They will be able to tweet from Safari, the camera, or basically any app. Users will even be able to add locations to their tweets.

Photo: Reuters

Siri, Voice Assistant

Siri is a powerful Voice Assistant app that lets users navigate most of their phone with just their voices. The program is less ridged and more functional than current voice recognition technology. It is also supposed to accept more natural ways of speaking. You may ask Siri if you need a raincoat today and it might respond: “It sure looks like rain today,” like it did during Apple’s press demonstration. However the feature will only be available on iPhone4S.

Photo: Reuters/ Jason Lee

Cutting the Cord

The new iOS 5 devices will also be less dependent on desktop computers. Users can activate and set up their brand new devices over Wi-Fi or 3G right out of the box. Software updates will be done wirelessly and most media content will be pushed to iOS5 devices right out of the box.

iPhone 5 wasn't announced during Apple's Oct. 4 press event, but iOS 5 was on full display.

Though some people might be disappointed with the announcement of the iPhone 4S, the new mobile OS has some really impressive features that will be implemented on the new device. Some older iPhones and the iPad will also get an iOS5 update.

Here are a few of the changes coming out on the new mobile OS. Start the slideshow to begin.