iOS 5 Featuring iCloud for iPhone 5

Apple’s new iCloud service may hold the key to one long-standing problem of iOS - synchronization of saved game files between devices. Other enhancements coming to iOS 5 will spill over to benefit gamers.

If you use an iPhone and an iPad, for example, you can install the same game on either device, but there’s no easy to way share game files between them. So if you get to level 30 on Angry Birds on your iPhone and fire it up for the first time on your iPad, you’ll find yourself back to level 1 on that device. It’s frustrating.

iCloud will enable applications to back up their settings files and documents to the cloud, and thus synchronize to each iOS device. Apple didn’t specify during the WWDC keynote (or in the information published on its Web site) if this technology could apply to saved games, but it is providing access to those Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to developers, which opens that door for iCloud to complies.

If this idea -- iCloud -- catches hold, it will be great for gamers - play a game on your iPhone while you’re commuting. Get home, fire up your iPad and pick up where you left off, same level, same achievements, same score. It only makes sense to do it this way.

My concern is that without strongly evangelizing such a pipeline, Apple is going to miss an opportunity here with developers to simplify and improve the gaming experience for users. We didn’t hear that message during the WWDC keynote (which, in fairness, was long enough already at almost two hours), but we haven’t really seen anything posted about that on Apple’s Web site either, and that concerns me more, lets see what the full release of iCloud would do.

Not only iCloud, we've now put together the full list of highlights from the WWDC presentation. iOS 5 will be made available this fall, with compatibility promised for the iPhone 4 and 3GS, iPad 1 and 2, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th generation.

• Firstly, stats. Scott notes that Apple has so far sold 200 million iOS devices, with more than 25 million of those being iPads. There have been 14 billion downloads from the App Store, tallying over $2.5 billion paid out in revenue to app developers. The iTunes Store isn't doing badly, either, with 15 billion songs sold.


• And the first new feature: an overhaul of notifications. At last! A new Notification Center aggregates all your, well, notifications into one and is accessible by swiping down a menu from the top of the screen. Yes, just like Android. Small X buttons alongside each note allow you to dismiss it, though there's no "clear all" option for the more decisive among us. Notifications are also making their way onto the lockscreen, where swiping across a text message takes you right into it. A little something like Samsung's TouchWiz implementation.


• Newsstand is a new place to house all your magazine and newspaper subscriptions.


• Twitter integration is also coming to iOS 5, with a single sign-in allowing a multitude of apps to make use of your Twitter credentials. That includes the Camera and Photos programs, finally letting you tweet images out directly from your galleries.


• Safari Reader is a new browser feature that will strip out distractions and present the text of a webpage with no other excess content. Accessible via a button next to the address bar. Also added to the iOS browser is a Reading List, which does what the name suggests by accumulating a list of pages you want to read later. Accessible on multiple devices. Tabbed browsing is making a debut in v5.0 as well, which is sure to be a boon for iPad users.


• Reminders is another self-descriptive feature. This one's intelligent enough to remind you to do things based on your location. It'll sync across devices and with your calendar.


• Yay, there's now a camera button right on your lockscreen! The volume-up button is also doubling up as a physical shutter release key when you're in the camera app. Pinch-to-zoom is said to be available right in the app, while holding your finger down on a particular area will lock down exposure to optimize the shot for its particular lighting. Some new in-device editing options have also been added, including cropping, rotation, red-eye reduction, and a one-click enhance option.


• A new split keyboard has also been shown off in iOS 5.


• Headline feature: PC Free! No more cables required for syncing. Now we're talking. Setting up and activating a new iOS device can be done right on the device itself, and syncing will be wireless too -- there'll be no need to tether to a computer anymore. Over-the-air updates are also part of the new deal, and in better news still, they'll contain only the data that's changed, meaning you won't have to re-download the entire OS every time Apple opts to make a minor tweak.


• Another pretty significant novelty: iMessage. It's a messaging service exclusively for iOS users (irrespective of which device they're rocking), which comes with delivery and read receipts, an indicator for when the other party is typing, and the ability to push messages to all your devices. Kinda, sorta like BBM. You'll be able to send messages, photos, videos, and contacts. Group messaging will also be available. It works over either WiFi or 3G and looks to be making good use of Apple's new push notifications.


• Perhaps the biggest innovation of all in iOS 5, however, will be the way iCloud affects the use of your mobile device. Hit up our overview post of the company's new cloud-syncing solution to learn all about it.


• iOS 5 will ship in the fall to the following devices: iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, iPad 1 and 2, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th generation including 200 changes on the iOS, iMessage, iCloud.