iOS 5 and iCloud: A Wishlist
01-Jun-2011 So the news is that it is official that next week Apple will make announcements about Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and something called iCloud.
Here is my wishlist of features as an iOS user. I'll probably write something after the event about what it means for me as a developer.
Notifications
One of the rumoured features of iOS 5 is an updated notifications system. Notifications are those little blue rounded-cornered rectangles that pop up telling you about new text messages or that it is your turn in Words with Friends. My two main gripes with the current system is that only one is viewed at a time and that you can't go back and view old notifications. Hopefully both of these will be addressed.
iCloud: Better Not Just Be MobileMe + Music
All we know about iCloud at this point is that it will be "Apple's cloud services offering". At the moment Apple have MobileMe which includes an online version of mail and calendar offerings among a few other things. For the moment I use Google for this stuff. The speculation for the new features are mostly geared around music to go head to head with Amazon's CloudPlayer. As much as I would love to have access to more of my music when out and about, at the moment I have over 24 hours worth of my music on my iPhone, which seems ample most of the time.
iCloud: Better Not Just Be Dropbox
I love Dropbox. It ensures that I have access to all my documents anywhere, and that the most recent version of my most important files are backed up almost instantly. But I already have Dropbox and many iOS developers are already implementing Dropbox support for savings files to the cloud. So iCloud has to be Dropbox + something. What I really want to see is a file storage service that heavily links my iPhone to my iPad so that I am working with one set of data on both. I want to be playing Plants vs Zombies on my iPad at home and then when I'm waiting in line at the bank be able to turn on my iPhone and pick up exactly where I left off because my save game has synced between the two devices.
Wi-Fi Sync to iTunes
That leads me to Wi-Fi sync. Every morning I plug my iPhone into my computer to update my podcasts and backup my phone, as well as getting the freshest music into my Smart Playlists. I know that Wi-Fi sync could be very draining to the battery, but how about an automatic sync when the device is plugged in to charge, and a manual sync otherwise?
There's my list. We will know by this time next week whether my dreams came true. The WWDC Keynote is on at 3am on Tuesday local time. I usually try to avoid hearing all the news until the video is released, so fingers crossed it will be out soon after I wake up on Tuesday.
Reader Comments (5)
I'd like to able to reply to text messages in the same notification window. And better iPhone/mac integration above the tiny funnel that is iTunes.
@Ardin: Yeah, you've been saying that for years now. Stuff like replying to text messages from the desktop would be great.
I know I should be using Evernote. I know it is what I need .... to stop transferring a couple of key frequently used files back and forwards from my home computer to my work computer on a thumb drive. But why/what should I use - Evernote or Dropbox? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?
For a couple of files you want to keep in sync I would definitely go with Dropbox. While Evernote can store files, it is really meant to be for when the file contains the information that I want to store is already in a file (e.g. pdf), rather than as a file storage system.
I think of Evernote more as a place to put anything that I might want to remember or look up in the future. I use some notebooks for short term storage (e.g. articles I want to read later). Other notebooks are for medium term (e.g. ideas I have had). And other notebooks are for long term (e.g. receipts).
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