Apple announces OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud

Posted by Japrax on Monday, June 6, 2011

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Apple held its 2011 WWDC today and debuted quite a few new products, including: OS X Lion, an update to the operating system aboard their iMac desktops and Macbook notebooks: iOS 5, the mobile operating system aboard their iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices; and the long-await iCloud online storage and sync system, which Steve Jobs himself introduced. Loads of new stuff! Below are just the highlights and I'm sure there will be more detailed info and discussion all over the web in the coming weeks. Special thanks to Engadget for the fantastic live event feed coverage!

Mac OS X Lion

Loads of new features, only a portion of which are listed below. Download an update for $29.99. Available in July.

Multi-touch gestures – for Macbooks with touchpads
Full-screen apps
Mission Control for desktop app management
Built-in
– In-app App Store purchases
– Push Notification
– Delta Updates (only what is updated, not the entire system)
Launchpad
Resume
Auto Save
Versions
AirDrop
updated Mail


iOS 5x200+ new features, including the following. To ship this fall. Supports devices starting with iPhone 3GS, iPad and 3rd/4th gen iPod touch.

Notification Center – way improved notification management
Newsstand – electronic subscription manager
Twitter – integrated right into the OS and into many apps
Safari
– new ‘Safari Reader' button for streamlined page viewing in the browser
– Reading List – simply way to read pages later
– Tabbed Browsing
Reminders – a built-in app that syncs across devices
Camera updates
– new camera button on the lock screen
– use the ‘volume up' button to take pictures
– in-app pinch zoom
– one-tap exposure optimization
– in-app editing – crop, rotate, red-eye, etc
Mail
– rich-text formatting
– indent control
– address drag
– flagging
– search entire message
– S/MIME for security
– built-in dictionary
– splittable keyboard
PC Free
– setup and activate your device right on the device
– software updates Over The Air (delta updates – only what's changed)
– Sync iTunes library over WiFi (more on this below under iCloud)
Calendar – set up and delete right from iOS
Game Center
– Achievement points
– Friend discovery
– Friends of friends
– Game discovery
iMessage
– works between all iOS devices
– send texts, photos, video, contacts, group messages
– get delivery receipts, read receipts, and real-time typing notification
– works over WiFi or 3G


iCloud

MobileMe is gone, with its functionality incorporated into the new FREE iCloud with 9 apps. Will ship concurrent with iOS 5 this fall.

Stores your content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices
Integrated with your apps, so everything happens automatically
MobileMe re-written from group up to work in iCloud
No ads
MobileMe is gone; Contacts, Calendar, Mail will be free to use via iCloud
updated AppStore
back up devices to the cloud – WiFi only, including purchased music, books, photos and videos, device settings, and App data
Documents in the Cloud
– store documents in the cloud and share across all your devices
– works on all iOS devices, as well as Mac and PCs
Photo Stream – photos taken on any device are pushed to the cloud, then sent automatically to the other devices via WiFi
iTunes -
– no charge to multiple downloads to different devices
– new ‘Purchased' tab shows everything you have in the cloud
– download a song on one device, it downloads to all without having to sync
– runs on iOS 4.3 beta
5GB of storage for Mail, Documents and Backup plus “other storage too” but Photo Stream and iTunes don't count again it
For music you've ripped from CDs, three options:
– sync devices over WiFi or cable
– re-buy the songs, but from iTunes
– use iTunes Music Match – $24.99 per year for as many songs as you want
– software will scan your tunes and match it up with those songs in the store – takes minutes to scan, not weeks to upload
– any songs that don't match will be uploaded for you and anything that's matched is upgraded to 256Kbps AAC, without DRM


No mention of iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 or whatever it will be called, but even still, perhaps one of the biggest WWDC unveiling events yet. Anyone besides me stoked for this?
source: The Gadgeteer


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