Changes include

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

Notifications
◦ Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Centre
◦ New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
◦ View notifications from lock screen
◦ Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app

iMessage
◦ Send and receive unlimited text, photo and video messages with other iOS 5 users
◦ Track messages with delivery and read receipts
◦ Group messaging and secure encryption
◦ Works over mobile networks and Wi-Fi*

Newsstand
◦ Automatically organises magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
◦ Displays the cover of the latest issue
◦ Background downloads of new issues

Reminders for managing to-do lists
◦ Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
◦ Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4

Built-in support for Twitter
◦ Sign in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
◦ Add location to any tweet
◦ View Twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts

Camera improvements for devices with cameras
◦ Double-click the Home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
◦ Volume Up button to take a picture
◦ Optional grid lines to line up shots
◦ Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
◦ Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
◦ Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure; iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock

Photo improvements for devices with cameras
◦ Crop and rotate
◦ Red-eye removal
◦ One-tap enhance
◦ Organise photos into albums

Mail improvements
◦ Format text using bold, italic or underlined fonts
◦ Indentation control
◦ Drag to rearrange names in address fields
◦ Flag messages
◦ Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦ Customise mail alert sounds
◦ S/MIME

Calendar improvements
◦ Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
◦ Tap to create an event
◦ View and add event attachments

Game Center improvements
◦ Use personal photos for your Game Center account
◦ Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
◦ Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
◦ Discover new games with custom game recommendations

AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S

Multitasking Gestures for iPad
◦ Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
◦ Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
◦ Swipe left or right to switch between apps

On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant

Software updates available over the air without tethering

iCloud support
◦ iTunes in the Cloud
◦ Photo Stream
◦ Documents in the Cloud
◦ Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
◦ Backup
◦ Contacts, Calendar and Mail
◦ Find My iPhone

Redesigned Music app for iPad

Hourly weather forecast

Real-time stock quotes

Wireless sync to iTunes

Keyboard improvements
◦ Split keyboard for iPad
◦ Improved auto-correction accuracy
◦ Improved Chinese and Japanese input
◦ New Emoji keyboard
◦ Personal dictionary for auto-correction
◦ Optionally create keyboard shortcuts for frequently used words

Accessibility improvements
◦ Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
◦ Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
◦ New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
◦ Option to speak a selection of text
◦ Custom element labelling for VoiceOver

Exchange ActiveSync improvements
◦ Wirelessly sync tasks
◦ Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦ Improved offline support
◦ Save a new contact from a GAL service

More than 1,500 new developer APIs

Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 2
• iPad
• iPod touch (4th generation)
• iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable; carrier messaging fees apply.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

RIM are already facing stiff competition with Apple with the iPad and more recently with the announcement of Android tablets. RIM are looking to sell their tablet and cater for both enterprise users and just a single person that wants a tablet. They say the BlackBerry PlayBook is designed to give users what they want, including uncompromised web browsing, true multitasking and high performance multimedia, while also providing advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a breakthrough development platform for IT departments and developers.

“RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world’s most robust and flexible operating systems,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry PlayBook solidly hits the mark with industry leading power, true multitasking, uncompromised web browsing and high performance multimedia.”

The PlayBook tablet is ultra portable, ultra thin and super convenient for both work and play. Measuring less than half an inch thick and weighing less than a pound with a 7″ high resolution display.

The BlackBerry PlayBook comes with a 1 GHz dual-core processor and the new BlackBerry Tablet OS which supports true symmetric multiprocessing and a highly-responsive and fluid touch screen experience for apps and content services.

RIM have decided not to go down the same route that Apple toko with Adobe Flash and have announced support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR and HTML 5.

The BlackBerry PlayBook features premium multimedia features to support high-quality mobile experiences, it includes dual HD cameras for video capture and video conferencing that can both record HD video at the same time, and an HDMI-out port for presenting one’s creations on external displays. The BlackBerry PlayBook also offers rich stereo sound and a media player that rivals the best in the industry.

For people who already carry a Blackberry phone, the BlackBerry PlayBook will also be possible to pair their tablet and smartphone using a secure Bluetooth connection, which means you can opt to use the larger tablet display to seamlessly and securely view any of the email, BBM, calendar, tasks, documents and other content that resides on (or is accessible through) their smartphone. Effectively like a video out over Bluetooth!

• 7” LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
• Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is expected to be available in retail outlets and other channels in the United States in early 2011 with rollouts in other international markets beginning in (calendar) Q2.

One thing the iPad has done is give me 0 second startup time. I simply press the power button and it turns on. There’s no hard disk to spin up, there’s no time to boot the operating system, it’s there. All solid state as opposed to a hard disk. It’s also larger than my netbook in terms of screen size, but it’s thinner and more lightweight. Okay, granted it doesn’t have a keyboard but the on-screen keyboard works pretty well for me. The biggest part is that I always had to leave the netbook powered on because even bringing it out of hibernation was slow. That ate up electricity, not a lot on a daily basis but when you consider you’re running a device 24/7 for 365 days a year, that adds up to a lot of electricity. With the iPad I only charge it when it gets low, e.g. over night if I want it topped up to 100%, or sometimes I go for several days without charging it.

On the iPad I have my Exchange email, I have BeeJiveIM for my Instant Messaging chats, I have Docs2Go to open up and read any attachments people send me, I also have a variety of other office based apps that allow for online storage of docs, to read PDF’s and PowerPoints as well as my creature comfort personal apps.

Steve Jobs said that the iPad was revolutionary and magic. For some maybe it’s not, but when I look back on how my evenings have changed and how much more I use the iPad than a regular computer, I guess I would call it revolutionary. I’m not sure I’d class it as magic, but it’s not far of it.

The iPad is still selling strong, but in people I talk to it’s had a lesser take up than I would have imagined. I think this comes down to more the price point and that people already have computers available and see no need for the iPad. Some said that the iPad would be a niche market, and it is. However the more people that have iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s, the more that like their devices and want a larger ‘living room’ computer will probably adopt to an iPad more than going to buy a new laptop, mini-laptop or netbook.

This is where the 7″ Android tablets might come in to still the thunder a little from the iPad. Android has got to the stage in it’s life where it has matured enough to be a serious contender for Apple both in the mobile phone platform but also in the tablet platform. A 7″ tablet would be nice and I have to agree that if I had one I’d probably take it with me more than I do the iPad because it’s smaller, but then comes the smaller screen, less battery power and suddenly you start to realise that all you have really is a device that for the best part is double the size of a regular mobile phone. Will that cut it for you? For me probably not, that’s where the iPad screen size if 9.7″ really comes handy. Will Apple do a 7″ to compete with the new Samsung Galaxy Tab? Possibly, time will tell, but for the best part I think Apple will probably sit back but have something to go just in case they feel they need to. The one thing that Apple don’t want to do is create a drop in iPad sales and create fragmentation around the iPad and ultimately bring in less money because people will start buying the 7″ more than the 9.7″ iPad.

Let’s not forget the iPad is an all-round device, it’s good for gaming, there’s tons of games from card games to fully fledge 30fps shoot’em-up games and driving games available for the iPad, most games are under £10 too.

Also the iPad just isn’t a gaming device, it also allows you to catch up on your ebook reading, store hundreds of thousands of electronic books on the device, so you have your entire reading library on the device when you take it with you.

If you have apps installed like Amazon’s Kindle app, then you can also synchronise where you left off reading on your iPhone or iPod Touch and pick up at the same location on the iPad.

There’s also lots of magazines, newspapers and periodicals you can also purchase or subscribe to and have delivered to the iPad on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

On the topic of the Galaxy S there’s still no update for most of the Samsung Galaxy S owners experiencing problems although Samsung did release an update to Captivate users but still no claims from users yet whether it has rectified the GPS problems or not.

Suggestions are that this new tablet is going to be an impressive device supporting a 1280×720 (720p) resolution using a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor with capacitive multi-touch screen. Also to include up to 32gb Solid State Disk, 2gb RAM, and all the normal features like WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

HTC don’t do devices without cellphone usage and although there’s been no mention on whether it may or may not sport a 3G chip, the chances are that it most probably will. The rumours suggest that HTC will be releasing the tablet in early 2011 running the latest Android 3.0 Gingerbread. Although Chrome OS might also be a contender and I wouldn’t rule that out yet.

I have now had my iPad for over a month, and I did wonder prior to getting the iPad how much I would use my netbook. In this past month i have been a little shocked at how little its been used, I have not used or switched it once! My iPad has now become the go to device for all of the above, as well as surfing, blogging, tweeting and posting to Facebook.

Apple did say that the iPad really wont replace your computer and will be more of a lounge device, but to be honest, if you have a separate laptop for lounge use then the iPad will and does replace your laptop.

Looking at the Acer Aspire Windows Netbook sitting here in the lounge, I feel kind of guilty that I haven’t powered it up once, but the iPad is doing everything the net book previously was doing but so much more. I haven’t even switched on my PS3 or my PSP to play any games, the iPad has taken over that realm too.

Do you have an iPad, if so how much have you found it’s changing you’re life?

Why am i using the iPad so much? Well its quite simply a much richer experience with the larger screen and not having to squint at such a small screen like you have on the iPhone. The iPad is really my lounge device, or if I’m going over family or friends or know there will be a wifi access point that I can access, then I’ll take the iPad with me. For everything else, including out and about internet access outside of a wifi hotspot, the iPhone for me still rules. Unfortunately 3G although fast, for me is still way too slow for a larger 10″ display, and i think this is something that most people will find when they our chase an iPad 3G.

Launched in North America to coincide with the U.S. release of GPS enabled iPad 3G models, detailed street-level maps of the U.S. and Canada are stored directly on the iPad. Customers do not need to download maps for each trip or worry about being left stranded without maps in mobile dead spots. Apps for additional regions will be launched as the iPad 3G becomes available worldwide in coming months.

A Sensational Visual Experience
CoPilot Live HD makes complete use of the iPad’s large touch screen in portrait or landscape, displaying the route ahead clearly and with beautiful hi-resolution graphics. The split screen navigation view uses the 768 x 1024 screen real estate to maximum effect—combining uncluttered 3D or 2D map views with clear, non-distracting turn instructions. Four dual view options available.

In-Car Navigation You Can Rely On
With CoPilot Live HD, you don’t have to download maps for each trip or worry about being left stranded without maps in mobile dead spots. CoPilot Live stores detailed street level maps of the U.S. and Canada directly on the iPad 3G—allowing offline GPS navigation and comprehensive trip planning. Free MapSure map improvements and updates keep your CoPilot Live current with changes in the road network.

Powerful Trip-Planning Features
More than just voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation. CoPilot Live HD’s powerful offline trip planning and route preview features let you plan complete door-to-door itineraries on your iPad 3G before you hit the road. You can enter multiple stops for a single journey and optimize to calculate the most efficient route. Additional features include a fuel cost estimator and the ability to create customized routing profiles for your personal preferences.

A Dedicated GPS Navigation System

• CoPilot Live HD is packed with all the navigation features you know and love in CoPilot Live, including:
  Turn-by-turn voice directions
• Clear 3D and 2D driving views with speed variable zoom and full street names
• Lane indicator display and CoPilot ClearTurn™ for a realistic view at complex intersections
• Navigate to a house number, street intersection or address book contact
• Guidance in tunnels and underpasses
• Thousands of pre-loaded Points of Interest
• Free monthly map improvement downloads directly to your iPad 3G Free quarterly full map updates of the U.S. and Canada
• Portrait / landscape display auto-switching and pinch-zoom functionality
• Access to iPod music controls from within the app
• Live Local Search
• LiveLink™ location sharing with Facebook status updates
• Live weather for your location or destination

More information available at CoPilot Live HD website.

The way I see it, with the App Store fully backed by Apple, that most people will want to go directly for an iPad over the Archos, although the Archos 9 is still reasonably priced for their 60gb version.

For anyone wanting a Linux or Android or Windows flavoured tablet pad, then the Arhcos 9 will definitely be for those people in mind, but for the regular consumer on the street who already has some investment in Apple whether it’s iTunes music, or other Apps on their previous devices, Apple will most likely be the way to go for their purchase of the iPad.

I read a comment from a customer on Amazon that said…”I bought the Archos 9 thinking I was buying into new technology, what a let down.
Windows 7 took ages to boot up was so slow in running I thought the touch screen was not working but the machine is so slow. Also MSN Messenger video always froze the whole thing up I would not recommend this machine to anyone, sorry to archos.”

Hmmm, that’s not a good endorsement for a tablet or for Microsoft Windows 7

Multi-touch isn’t new, many manufacturers have been using it, for instance Apple have multi-touch on the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can have multiple fingers on-screen gaming using virtual controllers, and you can also use other nice features like pinch to zoom.

So how will multi-touch change our lives I hear you say?

Well, like all old technology that disappears over time, the mouse input that we have on PC’s and Mac’s is very antiquated. You would think in the last 20 or 30 years that we would have designed multi-mice or track balls so you could have two pointers on-screen and use both hands, e.g. left hand to move one mouse or trackball pointer and right hand to move another mouse or trackball pointer.

The problem with many of the operating systems to date is they still don’t support multiple inputs of the same type. They do support multiple inputs though, like you can use the keyboard and the mouse at the same time, you just can’t use two mice because it will involve two pointers on screen. Probably one of the reasons we don’t have two mouse pointers is that it’s going to be difficult to work out which pointer is doing what on screen. Then the operating system needs to understand are you left clicking with one mouse pointer and right clicking with the other mouse pointer. It gets quite complicated.

Here’s where multi-touch is changing our lives already and will ultimately be the killer of the mouse. Why use an antiquated device like a mouse or a trackball to control something on-screen? It’s very unnatural to do this and the more natural to just touch the screen in multiple places. The downside with touch is that you can’t left click or right click, but you can hold your finger pressure on a subject for a second or more that could bring up a right click context.

Apple are one of the main companies that has designed multi-touch to be very sweet and to the degree that most people don’t even understand the technology is actually there on their iPhone or iPod Touch as it works extremely well and doesn’t inhibit you in anyway. That’s how technology should be, it shouldn’t be something that stands out and gets in your way, it should be something that’s subtle but effective.

Multi-touch will make us more productive and increase productivity, and multi-touch might go from two or 4 pressure points to 10 or 20 over the next few years. Microsoft have also been pushing the boundary with Microsoft Surface which is a massive table top screen that allows for multi-touch.

Apple have also recently incorporated the same multi-touch that they have in the iPhone and iPod Touch into the new Apple iPad to bring multi-touch to a much bigger 10″ screen. Other companies have tried to implement multi-touch but many still haven’t implemented it to the same quality or accuracy as Apple has.

This is mostly to demonstrate how ebooks or etextbooks could be used on a daily basis by students, but equally this translates well into the business world and that’s where it would first start off.

Think about it for a second, if you could have not only a 8″-10″ tablet that works great for ebooks and etextbooks, but also allows you to look at PDF’s, work on word or excel documents, perform annotations on books, take lecture notes, record voice, this could be pretty cool.

With the thousands of devices on the market today, there’s 3x main operating systems for me that stand out. They are Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile. There are other platforms like Symbian (although a dying breed) and Linux in general.

Most people are buying mobile phones that fit into one of the above 3 (or 4) camps. Personally I’ve always been a big fan of Windows Mobile in the past, frustrated with the lack of progress seeing the Android and iPhone platforms coming up very fast from nowhere. Although I’ve used Android quite a lot, I decided to switch from Windows Mobile to the iPhone and have not regretted it yet.

Each of the above platforms now have SatNav for them, CoPilot Live v8 for me is awesome and runs really well on all the platforms, they all have met the needs of the mobile profesional, e.g. Push Email, Facebook connectivity, Twitter Connectivity, Mobile Web Browsing, and the list goes on. There’s so many devices to choose from, but only a small amount of platforms.

The platform / OS war is really starting to open up. Currently Apple is in the lead followed closely by Android and Microsoft are now falling behind. Where will it be in 6 months or a year from now, or maybe 2 years?

We’re all wanting bigger and better screens, better touch technology, better battery life, better mobile interconnectivity. We want our devices to have GPS or SatNav as standard, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Exchange and much more. Could the iTablet from Apple (still under wraps) be the ultimate answer? Could a 7″ or 10″ internet tablet be what we all crave for with bluetooth phone connectivity? Time will tell.

What devices and platform do you currently use, and what do you like or dislike about them?

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