Ever since June 2009, Apple have included the Spotlight search feature on the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad. The inclusion of the Spotlight search feature in iOS 3.0 and above allows users the ability to quickly search contacts, mail metadata, calendars, media and installed applications amongst other things.
The release of iOS 5 in October 2011 was one of the biggest iOS revisions and brought over two hundred new user features. A lot of these features have been well reported on and have been classified as substantial additions such as the new Notification Centre and the new iMessaging system.
I think pretty much every owner of a smartphone device who has the slightest interest in music will have heard of the Shazam service. For those that haven't then let me introduce you to what I would consider the pioneering music identification service. Shazam launched in 1999 as a company who provided users with the ability to identify music via their mobile telephone. I remember the early days of the service when you had to dial '2580' on your phone then hold the microphone up to the music to allow the service to gather a sample. It then connected to the company using your devices data connection and sent an SMS back to you with the name of the song and artist.
Apple's Photo Stream is potentially one of the most useful new features that Apple added to iOS 5 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It takes everything that is saved to your Camera Roll, including newly taken photos and images that have been saved and then synchronizes it across iOS devices.
The video sharing website, Vimeo, recently turned seven years old, and although in some peoples eyes it may sit in the shadow of Google’s YouTube, its rise to importance on the world wide web has been dramatic. The website was founded in late 2004 by two partners and was intended to be a place solely for the uploading of user made videos. The name 'Vimeo' is said to reflect this with it being a combination of the words 'video' and 'me'.
Regardless of you opinion on whether or not people should jailbreak their devices, one thing I'm sure we can all agree on is that we have seen the rise of some great development talent due to the community that has been created around the art of jailbreaking. The innovation, creativity and dedication that goes into producing some of the finest tools and utilities that exist within Cydia is commendable, even more so when you consider that a good proportion of them are available free of charge.
With the App Store numbers fast approaching the million mark and 64GB of storage available across the board, it’s pretty easy to accumulate page upon page of SpringBoard icons as we continually binge on the many great titles available.
As much as I love iOS and the devices that it runs on, as a user I have always felt there has been certain aspects of the operating system and the native application experience which are fundamentally broken. In previous articles I have discussed my love of the Photos applications that comes preinstalled on iOS, and the problems that it comes with. Well now it is the turn of the native Messages application to get the same treatment.
The photos application that comes as stock on Apple iOS devices is probably one of my favorite apps on my iPhone and iPad. I know, it seems like a bizarre statement to make considering the amount of amazingly innovative and beautiful applications that exist amongst the 543,000 on the App Store. However, the simple nature of Photos App, mixed with its functionality and deep integration into the operating system has made me fall in love with it.
Samsung's instant messaging app, ChatON, is now available for download via Apple's App Store, and it goes straight into competition with Apple's own iMessage.
