For those looking to get their hands on the beta 2 version of Apple’s iOS 5 operating system for iPhone and iPod touch, we can sum up our advice on the matter in one word: don’t. There’s no massive revelation about a defect in the beta, no discovered defect, no specific dire consequences.
But the mere fact that it’s a “beta” means that it’s officially unfinished. The entire point of the iOS 5 beta testing program is to allow iOS app developers to be the sacrificial lambs who slog through the incomplete version of iOS 5 so they can discover and report on everything that’s still wrong. And while others may want to get their hands on it because they just “can’t wait” until the fall for iOS 5 to officially arrive, be warned that it’s not the real thing. It’s dangerous, and even if it weren’t unfinished, it still wouldn’t be the real thing. The iOS 4.2 / iOS 4.2.1 saga of 2010 proved that.
Here’s your iPhone 5 rumor du jour: Apple’s next-generation smartphone may feature a “radical” new design, one vastly different from that of the wildly successful iPhone 4.
BGR reports that Apple’s upcoming iPhone will not be a minor upgrade to the iPhone 4, but rather a bold makeover that veers dramatically from the fourth-generation’s eye-catching aesthetic. The new model may debut and ship in August, or arrive a month later at Apple’s annual September event, which is traditionally reserved for iPod-related announcements, the report says.