Recycled Computing

iOS 5: Some Wins, Some Losses

- 2011.11.08

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Short link: http://bit.ly/vYkmle

I rushed right out and installed iOS 5 on my iPod touch and iPad.

However, since my laptop is an old Powerbook G4, there were issues. First, I had a system crash while trying to restore both devices, and since my old PowerBook has USB 1.1, the process of installing iOS 5 to both the iPod and iPad took two days. There were some expletives involved as well.

For some reason, Pogoplug works on my iPod, but not my iPad. (This has since sorted itself, although I have no clue how it happened.)

Well, I really like the new Notifications Center. It brings all the notifications from my various apps into one handy spot. Smart idea for busy (and, in my case, not so busy) people.

I hated the split screen keyboard on the iPad. Seriously. Big time. So I went to the Settings app and changed it back. Whew.

I like the new Music app. Calling it iPod made no sense, and home sharing is a cool addition. As to iMessage, it might be useful if all of my friends used Apple equipment, but sadly they to do not, so I use a free app to text everyone on their cell phones. Maybe if Congress passes a bill that requires everyone to buy Apple stuff....

Newsstand looks good; I just hope I can find some free magazines..

Reminders looks like a super to-do list. It's too bad that since I am so disorganized, I don't use to-do lists.

I don't Twitter, so it's kinda hard to assess this new feature.

I'm impressed with the new camera software and editing features - of course, they work on my iPod, but not my first generation iPad (maybe I should have bought the iPad 2).

I like the changes to Calendar and Mail, but my enjoyment of the other features is limited by the ancient Powerbook's inability to run OS X 10.7 Lion.

So, what's my next move? Well, there's the ultimate Apple FanBoy path and the "as cheap as you can get" path. You know me - I'll be looking at the cheapest Core 2 Duo box I can get.

I am just a little worried about Safari. Sure, I love the tabbed browsing, but on both the iPod and iPad, it occasionally crashes, and I have to relaunch Safari. I'm hoping that Apple will fix this as well as my one more thing.

One more thing - why does my Bluetooth headphone work with iPod touch but not my iPad? Inquiring minds want to know.

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