iOS 5 Released! Slightly Broken

The next release of iOS is finally here. We waited for it on the edge of our seats – promises of an improved user experience and loads of new features to play with. It was Christmas for Apple devotees everywhere. Unfortunately, it came out closer to Halloween… and it felt like it.

Trick or Treat!

Let me start by saying, I’m not an Apple fanatic. I do love my Apple toys (I own several), and I appreciate what they do for me. However, I also own computers that run Windows, and I appreciate them just as much. To me, an operating system’s greatest asset is the trust a user puts into it. An operating system needs to be trusted to keep our data safe, and to give us access to it when we request it. Trust is required for us to continue relying on software that we use, or utilities that we need. Without the assumption that we can reliable do these things, we will inevitably find another way.

With that said, iOS 5 went a few steps off of its trusted path. It presented itself as the next great level of data security, accessibility, and usability, but instead of the sweet, chocolaty candy bar I was expecting, I got a tough, salty protein bar that I needed to scarf down first.

The Saving Grace: Notifications

The new OS isn’t all bad though. On the contrary, many of the upgrades and improvements were desperately needed. From the dawn of iOS, users have been begging and pleading for a better notification system. The old, “stop everything” approach was both annoying and counter productive for most active users. Some learned to live with it, while others touted its interruptions as a necessary method to keep the interface simple; but there were others of us who’d had experience with a different OS (namely, Android) and realized that a change was inevitable. iOS5 finally delivered. Is the notification area a bit too similar to Android’s? Yes, and I’m thrilled about it. If Android is a big copy of iOS, then let’s consider this a great first step in giving back.

Middle of the Road

Not everything can fall under the categories of good or bad. There’s always mediocre, a word not normally associated with Apple products. To me, these are the new functions that I was incredibly excited about, but in the end, don’t like for one reason or another.

First, there’s Messages. The idea of a central messaging app that can smartly determine whether to chat via the Internet or SMS is brilliant. Can you imagine what it would be like to simply pick a contact and be able to communicate without having to determine the underlying protocol first? Well, keep dreaming. Messages does make it easy to text with other iOS users who happen to sign up – but that’s the end of it. What about the rest of my friends and family? Only if they’re all iOS users are you good to go. It’s Facetime all over again.

Which brings up another point: when did Apple decide to start breaking similar functionality down into separate apps? And why can’t they integrate with my contacts? Although Android 4.0 doesn’t remove you from needing to choose a protocol, its elegant interfacing with your contacts and across-the-board compatibility with social networks make its texting capabilities vastly superior.

Then, there’s Reminders. My wife loves her to-do lists and calendaring on her iPod Touch. She got along with CalAlarm for the longest time, and I was excited to introduce her to the much touted Reminder system in iOS5 upon its release. After the lengthy upgrade, we dove in to create her first reminder… and had no idea how to do it. I tapped, I hit edit, but the simplicity that is normally present for an Apple product eluded me. Only by mere chance did I finally figure it out; for some reason, I had to activate Reminders under the iCloud settings before it gave me the little plus symbol in the top left to add new events. A bug? A feature? A requirement? I have no idea, but it frustrated me.

And the Bad

Newsstand! This is functionality that I much prefer to have remain in iBooks. So I figured, “I’ll hide the new icon where I don’t have to deal with it on my beautifully organized app screens.” No! Surprise! Its stuck there, and for some reason, Apple won’t even let me put it in a folder. Grrr.

The Upgrade Process. I have had far too many friends and family report problems about failed and half broken upgrades to iOS5. I was honestly shocked by it. Numerous synchronizing errors. Lost app purchases, contacts, and documents. Some of this had to do with the next item on my list…

iCloud. For the faithful MobileMe users out there, iCloud was a big step down. Yes, it can upload your “stuff” to the magic cloud in the Internet, but getting it back has proven to be a chore for some. Luckily, my wife’s entire collection of missing contacts magically reappeared after staying away for almost a week (I still don’t know what happened). A good friend kept having his documents disappear until realizing there was a compatibility issue between the Pages format on his computer and his iPad. Files that are magically pulled away are hard to manage aside from “delete them all” or “sync them all.” I would normally chalk these issues up as birthing pains, if I didn’t know Apple already had a great application in the form of MobileMe that they’re removing in favor of this new, as yet immature system. I think I’ll finally sign up for Dropbox.

Finally, there’s iTunes. Oh how I want to love iTunes; and on my Mac, I do. It’s great, but on Windows (where the majority of iOS device users live), it hurts. It’s slow to load, slow to update, and likes to hang while wirelessly synchronizing. I also told it not to automatically startup when it detects an iOS device, but it does it anyway, and on Windows that means it pops up in the middle of whatever else you’re doing. I’ve been exploring possible fixes for this, and the only one I’ve found so far is to speed it up by setting it to “Run as Administrator” when manually launched.

Conclusion

In the end, is it worth the upgrade pains to get iOS5? For the new notifications system alone, I have to answer with a YES! But be sure to make a backup first! You’ll also want to be selective with which applications you allow to use iCloud, at least until it’s matured some (perhaps by iOS5.1). The rest of it is hit or miss depending on how you, and the rest of your friends and family, use their mobile devices. For instance, I’m still personally stuck having to run Google Voice, along with Messages, IM+, Facetime, Skype, and Facebook in order to communicate with people I know.

My remaining issue is one of trust. My wife immediately went back to copying her contacts down on paper when they disappeared from her iPod. The problem eventually went away, but rebuilding her lost confidence will take time and a smooth upgrade process for the next iOS release. I have no doubt that Apple can do just that so long as they focus their efforts.

GRADE for iOS5: B-

 

Disclaimer: Everything contained in this article is an opinion of the author. Feel free to comment below or completely ignore the rantings posted above.