Apple iOS 5 Released: Its Hidden Features

Apple Inc. released its newest, most advanced operating system iOS 5 on Wednesday. The early rush of overwhelming number users trying to upgrade to iOS 5 resulted in glitches including hour-long waits and cancelled updates.

There was huge demand of the iOS 5 as users were attracted to the main features of the operating system. iOS 5 is Apple's most comprehensive system upgrade ever with more than 200 new features for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

The update features are: an organized Notification Center, a free text messaging service called iMessage, an upgrade to the camera interface, parental controls, an overhauled Safari mobile browser, deep integration with Twitter, new lifestyle applications and the ability to sync apps, documents, contacts, calendars, music and photos across all iOS devices with iCloud.

All Apple devices sold after Wednesday comes with iOS 5 pre-loaded onto the hardware, including the iPhone 4S, which is already in the stores.

The features of Apple's iPhone 4S include the latest iOS 5 operating system, iCloud, an A5 dual-core processor found in the iPad 2, a much-improved 8-megapixel LED flash camera with 1080p HD video recording, secondary VGA camera for video chat, alternating antennae for better call reception, world phone with CDMA and GSM support, retina display, a smart personal assistant called Siri, and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology.

But there are some hidden features in the iOS 5. Let's take a look at those features.

Keyboard Shortcuts: If the user finds typing a few set phrases over and over -- for example,. 'I'm on my way' or 'I'm running late' -- then a shortcut can be created. For example, 'I'm on my way' can be shorted to 'omy', which when typed will automatically enter the full phrase.

Once it is set and remembered, these shortcuts are a great time-saving feature, and might even curb the use of text speak. Editing the shortcuts is done in Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts

Custom Alerts: With iOS 5, custom alerts can be assigned with a different alert sound for new mail, sent mail, tweets, calendar alerts and more. There's also the option to make the iPhone's LED flash light up when a message, alert or call is received. The user just needs to go into Settings -> General -> Accessibility

Custom vibrations are possible now, too. Users can tap a pattern on the screen and set the iPhone to vibrate with such pattern for a text, call or alert. This is very useful for identifying alerts when the phone is in a pocket, as currently Facebook, Twitter and Mail alerts all have the same vibrate sequence.

Finally, Assistive Touch can be used to set a custom gesture to perform an action, such as swiping from side to side to make the screen turn off.

Instant Definitions: iOS 5 comes with a new text formatting options. Apart from selecting a word or text string, making them bold, italic or underline, there is a suggest function that will provide a list of other words the user may preferred to type. The feature also provides an instant definition for a particular word the user types in.

Private Browsing in Safari: The Safari browser comes with a more secure and private browsing option. In Safari's settings, the user could toggle on Private Browsing, which refrains from building a history of the browser activity.

Turn-Off Preview: In order to turn off the preview of text messages or emails on the lock screen, the user needs to go to Settings>Notifications and turn off Show Preview for both Messages and Mail.

Check App Usage: The user could check the limit of iDevice storage capacity by heading over to Settings>General>Usage, and start surveying the worst offenders. Clicking on an app name will provide a bit more detail, specifically, the footprint of the document and data files associated with the app.

Alternate Routes in Maps: Viewing alternate routes have always been available in the desktop version of Google Maps, and now it is finally available on iOS devices too. After defining where the user is and wants to go, just tapping Route 1, Route 2, etc., could toggle between Google's recommended directions.