UPDATED 11.30am: screenshots - logging into iCloud, Find My Phone proves hit-and-miss | iOS 5, available to New Zealanders from 6am today. Kiwis complain Apple's servers are overloaded.
UPDATE Oct 13: iOS 5 went live for download just after 6am this morning. Apple's free software upgrade gives your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch a range of new features (scroll down for a list). Simultaneously, iCloud.com was opened for busines. Scroll down for key features, and iCloud NZ pricing.
Swamped
As of 9.30am, many New Zealand users were taking to social networks to complain about slow downloads. It seems Apple's servers are overloaded. (The issue seems widespread. The US edition of Computerworld has reported complaints about error messages and swamped servers). The best advice is to hold off upgrading this morning and let the crowd disperse a little.
Once you're game, if you're an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad user, plug your device into your Windows PC or Mac and, in iTunes, click on its icon then - if there's no automatic pop-up message - click Check For Updates to start downloading and installing iOS 5.
Your correspondent is currently upgrading to iOS 5. The whole process, including downloading, installation, synching and logging into iCloud using my Apple ID (what most of us know as our iTunes name and password). The iOS 5 download itself is north of 1GB. That is, movie huge.
ABOVE: Clogged traffic downloading iOS 5 didn't translate into any iCloud delays. I was able to log in, via iCloud.com, immediately. The screen shot above is on my Windows 7 laptop (click to enlarge). A key component - iTunes Match, that scans your music library then "matches" it on iCloud for streaming to any device - won't be available until the end of the month.
ABOVE (click screen shot to zoom): "Find My Phone", a feature formerly only available as part of the $120/year Mobile Me service, is free with iCloud, accessed via iCloud.com. I used it three times while at NBR Towers, aka Achillies House in downtown Auckland (the red X above shows my approximte corner location, with my iPhone 4 on my desk). I had three goes locating my iPhone 4, which only takes seconds via iCloud (like all high-end smartphones and tablets, the iPhone 4 has assisted GPS, aka a-GPS, which combines satellite and cellular systems to pinpoint a handset's location. One was bang on. Another (see screen above, click to enlarge) had me diagonally across the screen, another two blocks south. GPS signals can bounce off buildings and other obstructions, sometimes delivering slightly inaccurate results. If you're looking for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad in an open space, Find My Phone could be a big help. But if you think you've tracked your phone to a particular dwelling, you could be wrong, so think twice before throwing a punch.
A couple of disappointments: it seems iOS 5's tabbed browsing feature (a catch-up feature with Google Android devices) is only available for iPad, not iPhone.
And, as expected, Newstand - designed to make it easier to access and read e-versions of popular hardcopy titles - is bare by default (Aussies got a sprinkling of local totals, the US tons), with no New Zealand magazine or newspaper publisher's featured.
Early reviews
Ars Technica got its mits on iOS 5 early. Read its extended review here.
TiPb has a comprehensive, feature-by-feature illustrated walkthrough of iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad here.
The site has noticed one gotcha: it seems the new Photo Stream feature, which (when used in conjuction with iCloud) lets you automatically sync photos between devices, won't let you delete a photo until you hit the 1000-picture limit. However, NBR reader Michael Kress points out you can delete photos. The process is just a little tricky. Log-on to iCloud then choose Account/Advanced/Reset Photostream Turn off/on device settings).
Siri astounds
A signature feature of iOS 5 - its "Siri" natural language voice commands - is only available for the new iPhone 4S (released in Australia, the US and other countries at the end of this week; the NZ release date is still pending). Daring Fireball's John Gruber - one of the most respected reviewers in the Applesphere - makes Siri sound Space Odysseylevel amazing. read his review here. A sample:
I asked, “When was my last haircut?”, and it found that appointment from a month ago. I told Siri, “Play something by the Rolling Stones” and it played a random Stones song (“Gimme Shelter”, from Let It Bleed). I interrupted and said, “Play ‘Some Girls’ by the Rolling Stones”, and Siri played just that song.
I was out running errands today, walking through the city. I remembered, a mile away from home, that a screw had fallen out of my wife’s favorite eyeglasses over the weekend, and that she was waiting for me to fix them. Walking down a city street, I said, “Remind me to fix Amy’s glasses when I get home.”1 Half an hour later, within a few doors of our house, the reminder went off.
Oct 12: Apple has released iTunes 10.5, a free software upgrade that readies an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Mac or PC for iCloud – the companies new online synching and storage service (if version 10.5 does not appear as a pop-up software update option in iTunes, head to iTunes.com and follow the prompts. Your correspondent followed this route with no issues).
iCloud itself will be available for New Zealand customers from tomorrow (Thursday Oct 13), Apple Australasia spokesman Vispi Bhopti told NBR.
The first 5GB of online storage (for syncing email and calendars, and document storage and backup) will be free, with purchased iTunes content not counting toward the total.
Additional storage, via iCloud.com, will cost (in $NZ):
iOS 5 tomorrow
Another piece of the software jigsaw, the free download iOS 5 software upgrade for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, will also be released tomorrow.
The new iPhone 4S, released in the US, Australia and other countries Friday, still has no local release date.
However, iCloud and iOS 5 will work with the current models, the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.
iOS 5 key features
iCloud
The iOS 5 installation's full list of features:
Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable, carrier messaging fees apply.
