Most important features to premiere on the iOS 5.

Apple iOS 5 new features:

• Notifications - real time on-screen notifications, lockscreen notifications and pull-down Notification Center
• iMessage service in the Messaging app enabling instant messages to other iOS users
• Reminders - including location-aware options
• Customizable notification sounds - email, voicemail and calendar alerts
• Twitter integration
• iCloud service integration
• Enhanced Camera app - viewfinder grid, hardware shutter key
• Integrated photo editing - crop, auto enhance, rotate and red-eye fix
• Updated Safari - tabbed browsing (on iPad), private browsing mode, integrated Reader, Reading list and optimized performance
• Dictionary lookup throughout the interface
• Computer free operation - independent activation, OTA updates, iCloud backup and restore
• Wi-Fi synchronization with iTunes with automatic operation
• New features in the Mail app - Bold, Italic, Underline and Quote options, extended Search, mass Mark as Read/Unread and Flag setting, Add/Delete mailbox folders
• Updated Calendar and Game Center apps
• Newsstand app combining all of your magazine subscriptions
• iPod player now called Music, has new icon
• Separate Video app for iPhone
• AppStore purchase history (already available for iOS 4 too)
• New Storage management options (list and info of all installed apps)
• Multi-tasking gestures for iPad
• AirPlay mirroring for iPad
• New accessibility options involving the LED flash and custom vibrations

Typically, there's still plenty of stuff missing and some of the things will probably never make it to the iOS. Here is a list of the things we continue to miss:

Still missing:

• No Flash support in the web browser
• No quick toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G
• No Facebook integration
• No proper widgets for the lockscreen
• App folders still are limited to 12 apps tops
• No DivX/XviD video support out of the box (though there're lots of players in the App Store)
• No USB Mass storage mode for uploading content to the device
• No haptics for the touchscreen
• No Bluetooth file transfers to other phones
• Contacts lack a swipe-to-delete or mass delete feature

• The new iPad is skinnier, faster and slightly lighter than the original.

With the original iPad, Apple brought an attractive, easy-to-use tablet to the masses at a reasonable price - a feat numerous companies are trying to top.

With the release of the iPad 2, Apple is pulling further ahead, with improvements that make an already excellent tablet even more enticing. It goes to show that when it comes to tablets, Apple refuses to be bested.

The new iPad is skinnier, faster and slightly lighter. It comes with cameras for video chatting and snapping photos, while keeping the same prices, ranging from $499 to $829 depending on the configuration.

Competitors such as Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc and Samsung Electronics Co sell good tablets of their own, with many of the same features. Motorola's new Xoom even has a higher-resolution screen than the iPad. Still, nobody has been able to match the iPad's simplicity, innovation and style.

The iPad 2 looks much like the first iPad, though it has a sleeker, lighter body with a curved back. All this helps the tablet fit more naturally in my hands, and the modified shape makes it easier to hold for extended e-reading sessions, for example.

Among the most noticeable changes is the inclusion of cameras, one on the front and one on the back.

This is something I've been hankering for, as the iPad's crisp display, measuring 9.7 inches (24.6cm) diagonally, seemed like the ideal canvas for video chat. The subsequent arrival of several tablets with front and rear cameras made it practically a necessity for iPad 2. Fortunately, Apple thought so, too. Both cameras on the iPad 2 work with the company's FaceTime video chat application and the back camera shoots high-definition videos.

A friend I chatted with over FaceTime moved pretty smoothly on the iPad's screen, though the image could have been much sharper. With the front camera, my friend could see me. If I switched to the back camera, I could show him my surroundings.

You can take still photos, too, though I found this awkward given the tablet's size. The results were not fantastic, but self-portrait fans will find the front-facing camera useful for composing new profile photos for Facebook.

The new iPad has Apple's new dual-core A5 chip, which helps applications open more quickly than on the older iPad. The original never felt slow, but the faster I can start a new game of Plants vs Zombies, the better.

Add to that a new version of Apple's iOS software. The new processor and the new iOS combined to improve Web surfing, as I could load up pages noticeably faster over my home Wi-Fi network. As expected, videos loaded quickly and generally streamed flawlessly.

The new software allows you to share music and videos from your iTunes library on multiple Apple devices on the same Wi-Fi network. And it now lets you set the iPad's mute switch to function as a screen lock, which makes it much easier to prevent my Netflix movie from rotating mid-scene just because I've shifted my butt on the couch.

The updated iOS comes with iPad 2 and is available as a free download for the original iPad and the two most recent models of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple also rolled out iPad versions of its iMovie video-editing software as well as GarageBand software for recording and editing music. I tried GarageBand ($5) and was wowed by how simple it was and how it took advantage of the iPad's touchscreen.

If you're musically inclined, you can pick up your guitar and adjust its sound through GarageBand's bevy of amplifiers and effects pedals. If you don't play an instrument (or feel lazy), you can swipe through a list of "smart" virtual instruments. A guitar with preset chords lets you strum by swiping the screen. You can arrange drums on a grid based on how noisy and complicated you want the beat to sound. The coolest part is how sensitive the virtual instruments are. Start beating your fingers on a virtual drum kit, and you can hit the drums and cymbals harder or softer. You'll get different sounds if you hit the ride cymbal in different places, and you can even tap the rim of the snare instead of just hitting the drum itself.

It's quick and easy to record and edit songs, then save or email them to a friend (who will hopefully applaud your artistic endeavours).

When playing back my musical masterpiece and other content on the iPad 2 I did long for a second speaker: there is just one on its back. Fortunately, that lone speaker did sound quite crisp, even with the sound turned all the way up.

Like the first iPad, the iPad 2 is rated for up to ten hours of battery life, and it performed like a champ. Playing a mix of videos streamed from YouTube over Wi-Fi and saved on the iPad itself, I got a bit more than ten hours of entertainment before it died.

Without question, the iPad 2 is a great tablet. Still, this doesn't mean the first iPad is ready for the trash can. It's still a stellar gadget, and now it's cheaper (while supplies last) with the arrival of a successor.

Should you feel the urge to have the latest and greatest, however, go for it. Chances are, it will be the best tablet in town - at least until the arrival of the iPad 3.

iOS 4.3 beta reveals Wi-Fi hotspot, multi-touch gestures and more

Original article by gsmarena.com: Click here

The iOS 4.3 beta 1 for developers is out and it will bring lots of new goodies to the iPhone and the iPad. All GSM iPhones get personal hotspot capabilities, while the iPad is granted with various useful multi-touch gestures.

Here is a short list of what's discovered so far:

• Personal Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities
• Multi-touch gestures (iPad only) for quick access to homescreen, multi-tasking bar or the next/previous running app
• Configurable iPad slide switch
• iAd fullscreen banners on iPad
• New FaceTime icon
• AirPlay support for third-party apps
• Possible video effects (Turbine, X-ray, Tunnel of Light, Collapse, Thermal Camera, Kaleidoscope and Normal)

The personal Wi-Fi hotspot is a long awaited addition, but it will be carrier-dependent for sure and AT&T users should definitely hold their excitement.

It seems (at least from this beta) the iPad will be the biggest beneficiary. Apple has finally gave up on the mandatory side switch configuration and will let the users decide whether they'll use it as Mute key or as an Orientation lock.

Other new features spotted on the iPad are the awesome multi-touch gestures. You will be able to use four (or five) fingers to minimize an app and go to the homescreen, swipe through all running apps or bring up the multi-tasking bar with a single swipe up. The beta doesn't offer these gestures on the iPhone, but there is nothing certain until the official announcement.

Here is a short demonstration:

There are rumors that the next gen iPhone and iPad (name codes for which were revealed within this software build) may even drop the hardware Home button entirely and rely on gestures only. Reportedly that has been Steve Jobs's intention for the first iPhone, but it wasn't possible back then. And while we are still in the rumorland, the latest one is that the Photo Booth and iLife Mac OS apps will be on the next iPad. We'll see about that.

The iOS 4.3 beta lacks support for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch second generation, so the 4.2.1 might as well be the last supported build for those devices.

Other interesting things discovered within the iOS 4.3 code are a few live video effects, which might be accessible on both FaceTime and video recording. We've already mentioned them in the list above.

The last thing from the code revealed so far is the Find My Friends feature. This is supposed to be part of the MobileMe services and bring functionality similar to that of Google Latitude.

There is no word on when iOS 4.3 will be announced or launched but we're guessing it will happen in the end of January.