Every iOS major release so far has been like the most amazing present for iPhone and iPad owners. Unlike other mobile makers running third party operating systems, Apple ensures everyone can enjoy the new features regardless of the device used. Over the years we have benefited from things like the App Store, copy and paste, multitasking or Spotlight searches, which help somehow to extend the lifespan of our beloved gadgets. In most cases these updates are free too.
Just like any other appfreak, I didn't couldn't wait to download the final golden master version and rushed to install iOS 5 on my iPhone 3GS and iPad. Please take my comments with sarcasm - I like the update, but some part could have been improved. These are my thoughts so far.
The birth of the PC free device
One of the things I was more excited about is the promise of an easy over the air sync. I bought the idea of getting the scissors and cutting all the USB cables I own. The promise of an easy synchronisation across devices is really exciting and even if we don't realise now, we might look back to this day when smartphones became independent machines and consider us lucky to have witnessed such a thing.
In real life though, the upgrade to this new era of cloud computing is more like a very difficult cesarean. Not only backing up devices on your PC before the upgrade is annoying, but it also took a long time. It's funny to see that to allow your device to live a post-PC life, it needs to be plugged for hours for a complex surgical operation.
Once everything is copied back and forward, you eventually get to the welcome screen that new device owners will see right after unpacking. That's more pleasant indeed. But the ease of use can get confusing as in the past two weeks I've seen apps appearing and disappearing and I simply don't know what's going on. I start to fear that the sync symbol on the tool bar will become iOS’s very own marble of doom: I like the fact that I can use my phone while it syncs, but at what cost? Everything seems to get sluggish and unresponsive until I realise that my phone is talking with the iCloud, not really listening to what I'm saying.
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