iPhone News Updated

iPhone 4S soars with Siri (5/6)

iOS 5 has copied the Android-style notifications-tray capability in what it calls Notification Center, but Apple’s version is better. In iOS 5, you pull down from the top of the screen to get a pane of notifications, and tap any to open it within its app.

You can also delete groups of notifications — such as for mail messages — by tapping the X icon to the right of the group’s name. I like iOS 5’s notifications better than Android’s because iOS’s notifications are much easier to read and Notification Center shows individual messages and tweets, whereas in some cases Android shows only a group alert, such as “5 new mentions,” rather than list them. (iOS lets you specify a max number of notifications per type to display, by the way.)

iOS 5 can also display notifications on the lock screen, and by sliding a specific notifications icon, you can open the app and the relevant notification item, such as an email. Plus, unlike Android, iOS 5 lets you decide which apps may present notifications on the lock screen and elsewhere — you’re not restricted to a predetermined set. Not only does iOS 5 let you turn notification on or off on a per-app basis, but you can specify whether the notification sounds a tone, whether it appears in the lock screen, whether its badge updates with the number of relevant notifications, and how the notification appears onscreen (as an overlay in the middle of your screen or just in the Notification Center pull-down pane). You get to choose when and how you are interrupted.

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iPhone 4S soars with Siri (4/6)

Another big deal in iOS 5 is its enhanced AirPlay support. You can now send your screen image and audio to an HDMI-connectable presentation device attached to a $99 Apple TV, as long as the iOS device and the Apple TV are in the same wireless network.

And you can use a VGA or HDMI cable for a direct connection. With the iPhone 4S (as with the iPad 2), you can mirror the entire screen as well.

Thus, it’s very easy to give presentations from an iPhone 4S. Too bad you can’t use a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPhone 4S — with such keyboard support and the exisitng screen mirroring, you could use the 4S as a computer in a pinch.

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