WWDC 2011 was a great event, that lasted around two hours and it was filled with the best novelty when it come to iSoftware. Sadly, there was no hardware around, but still Steve Jobs managed to make the new software look exciting, calling it the soul and the hardware the brain. Today’s announcements included Lion OS, iOS 5 and the iCloud service.
OS X Lion will be available in July for $29.99 and it packs no less than 250 new features, like the fresh Mission Control, unifying Expose and Spaces. Through Mission Control you get a bird’s eye view of all the apps and windows opened on your Mac, which is a very intuitive way of controlling your device. The new desktop OS gets multitouch gestures, like momentum scrolling, tapping, pinching, all done with the aid of the multitouch trackpads on Macbooks or the Apple Magic Trackpad on desktop Macs.
The new platform will be available as a 4GB download in the Mac App Store, simply installing without reboot required. Next up it was the turn of the iOS 5 to shine. Know from the start that this new OS will come this fall and two of the rumors we’ve heard about recently were confirmed: revamped notification system and Twitter integration. Scott Forstall detailed the new iOS during WWDC 2011, taking on the stage and announced that 200 million iOs devices have been sold so far, which is incredible for a 4 year span.
Back to iOS 5, the platform brings a Notification Center, available by dragging down on the screen a menu from the top of the screen, exactly like on Android. Also, you get notifications on the lockscreen, so for example if you swipe across a text message, you’ll reach it. Another novelty is Newsstand, some sort of iBooks for newspapers and magazines, integrating your subscriptions in a single place.Twitter integration means that you’ll only sign in once and have the service available in many apps on the phone, including Camera and Photos.
Safari Reader is also a newcomer, showing you the text on a web page without extra distractions. Also, reminders got location features, letting you know it’s time to pick up milk if you’re near a market.The lockscreen on iOS 5 will now integrate a camera button, which is cool and accessible, but what’s totally cool is the ability to use the volume up physical button as a shutter key for the camera. Those of you who don’t like the standard keyboard on the iPad will have access to a split keypad on the screen while using iOS 5.
Finally, we’ll also get to sync and activate an iOS device without wires, totally via air. Also on the list there’s a BBM-like feature, iMessage. This messaging service includes delivery and read receipts for messages and message pushing too all of your devices. Another piece of good news, this time for iPhone 3GS users: iOS 5 will work on your device, too! The conference ended with the announcement of iCloud, a free service replacing MobileMe and granting you 5GB of storage space. The service stores and pushes your content, iBooks, photos, videos, settings and app data, using Apple’s huge data centers.
Contacts sync is also available and there’s a feat called Photo Stream, that’s practically a new gallery in Photos, exiting on ALL of your devices, from Apple TV, to OS X machine and Windows PC. Steve Jobs also tackled piracy a bit, by launching iTunes Match, a service that costs $25 a year, scans your iTunes library and delivers the songs you already have (bought and ripped) in 256Kbps AAC tunes free of DRM. Going legit now? All in all it was a fun event, filled with novelty and making iOS much more appealing than Windows Phone 7 and certainly an Android equal.
We’ll see what happens next and we’re a bit sad there was no new iPhone or iPad today…
