5 Reasons Why iOS 5 Fails to Be the Best Smartphone OS

The coveted Apple iOS 5 has arrived along with the new iPhone 4S. Although the smartphone is not the expected iPhone 5, it still has witnessed enough enthusiasm on the first day of its sale. Meanwhile, the new iOS 5 has introduced about 200 new features, including an improved notifications system, iMessage, and Newsstand.

However, iOS 5 still fails to live up to consumers' expectations, and here are the reasons why.

Although Apple has introduced a voice-based command option, it still does not support searching the Web via voice, a technology many had expected. The most a user can do via voice command is call people in the contacts list and control the music player. This is one area where iOS 5 still lags behind Android. Even the new Siri technology, itself, is limited.

A few users have already complained about the new split onscreen keyboard technology. Although the technology is a good addition to the new OS, it still has minor glitches that can be very frustrating. However, the keyboard does gives a user an easier thumb-typing option.

It is also true iOS 5 has introduced different app gestures like the four-finger sideways swipe and the four-finger pinch gesture. However, a user who has already opened the home screen via the four-finger pinch gesture will not be able to return to the previous app that was running and which is now in the background. In home screen, the four-finger swipe will only scroll the home screens. A four-finger swipe up, nonetheless, brings up the multitasking dock giving the user access to rotation lock, iTunes, AirPlay, etc.

One problem that was always in the making was the issue with the universal inbox in iOS 5. The feature that the universal inbox provides is that it stores all the emails and messages get stored in one particular place. The user doesn't have the option to know whether he received the message as an email or a SMS.

The mail problem still continues with iOS 5 not providing the option of filtering messages. The feature automatically deletes the mails that the user has tagged as junk. The users previously said that such a feature would be a great addition to the iPhone's capability.