iOS 5.1 Brings Smattering of Features and 4G Confusion
by Agen G. N. Schmitz.
In addition to the iPad hardware that debuted last week (see "Apple Announces Third-Generation iPad," 7 March 2012), Apple released iOS 5.1 for all iOS 5-compatible devices, which includes all versions of the iPad, the iPhone 3GS and later, and third generation and later of the iPod touch. Overall, it's a maintenance release with a small collection of new features and fixes - but one user interface change in particular is causing some confusion.
After updating to iOS 5.1, many AT&T iPhone 4S owners will find that the cellular indicator in the menu bar changed from 3G to 4G - even though their phones haven't magically added faster data capabilities. Rather, this change reflects that the iPhone is connecting to AT&T's HSPA+ network, which is essentially a faster version of 3G. For comparison, HSPA+ supports a raw downstream capability of up to 14 Mbps compared to a maximum download rate of 73 Mbps for LTE (Long Term Evolution).
Despite the HSPA+ network being a slowpoke compared to LTE, AT&T equates it as being "4G." If that sounds like weasley marketing purposes, it is - but AT&T has been accorded cover for this distinction by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). In a press release from December, 2010, the ITU agreed that "other evolved 3G technologies" could find shelter under the 4G standards umbrella as long as they provided "a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities" in respect to current 3G networks.
When the iPhone 4S was launched last October, Phil Schiller even joked about the that carriers wanted to call HSPA+ a "4G technology" (see "New iPhone 4S Adds Voice Recognition and Goes Global," 4 October 2011), saying: "We're not going to get into a debate in the industry over what's 4G and what isn't, we'll leave that for others to talk about." However, as Brad McCarty noted at The Next Web (among many others), this seems to be an acquiescence by Apple to AT&T's marketing demands, and one that could lead to a slippery slope of additional carrier requests down the line.
Controversy aside, the iOS 5.1 update does offer several new features that, while not groundbreaking, are certainly welcome additions. First and foremost, you can now delete individual photos from your iCloud Photo Stream. To do so, open the Photos app, tap the Photo Stream album, and then tap the share button in the top right corner. From there, select individual photos and then tap the red Delete button in the lower right corner.
Other imaging-related additions include enhanced face detection capabilities in the Camera app (being able to recognize more than one fact at a time), a redesigned Camera app for the iPad that moves the capture button to the right side of the screen where your thumb is more likely to be, and a new camera shortcut placed on the unlock screens of the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation). Instead of swiping to the right to unlock your iPhone and then fumble through your home screens to find the Camera app, tap the Camera button to the right of the Slide to Unlock slider or swipe up on the screen go directly into the Camera app.
Subscribers to iTunes Match will find that Genius Mixes and Genius playlists have returned to their iOS devices. And iPad owners will enjoy "optimized" audio for movies and TV shows that should sound both louder and clearer. Podcast controls for playback speed and rewinding a currently playing podcast by 30 seconds have also returned.
Japanese language support has been added to Siri (joining English, French, and German), though its availability will be limited during the initial rollout. Finally, iOS 5.1 addresses some unnamed bugs that affected battery life, and provides a fix for occasional audio dropped during outgoing calls.
To update an iOS 5.0 device to version 5.1, connect it to a computer running iTunes and click the Check for Update button in the device's Summary screen (if a dialog doesn't automatically appear). Or, update over the air without connecting to a computer: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and follow the instructions there.
Tim Cook Shares Apple's Latest Numbers
At the iPhone 4S announcement last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage carrying the script that Steve Jobs had honed to perfection, recapping recent Apple store openings and giving a numbers-heavy overview of how Apple's various products and businesses are doing.
Apple now operates 357 stores in 11 countries, including 6 stores in China, which still represents a largely untapped market for Apple. The just-opened Hong Kong Apple store, for instance, received 100,000 visitors on the opening weekend and sold more Macs on its opening day than has any other Apple store.
Even while the brick-and-mortar Apple stores continue to be key to Apple's success in selling hardware, the company has managed to transition software sales to the iOS App Store and Mac App Store. It's likely that the ease of downloading boosted sales of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which has had 6 million downloads so far. Cook said that Lion's uptake rate was 80 percent higher than Snow Leopard's, and it took Lion only 2 weeks to reach 10 percent of the Mac installed base. Windows 7 took 20 weeks to reach the same level of penetration. Cook said Apple has 58 million Mac OS X users.
As impressive as that number of users sounds, it's nothing compared to the 250 million iOS devices that Apple has sold so far. And although Cook didn't break out iPhone sales specifically, he did say that the iPhone 4 accounts for over half of all iPhones sold to date.
The iTunes Store now contains 20 million songs, and over 16 billion songs have been downloaded in the past 8 years. Cook used the term "mind-boggling," which doesn't seem like hyperbole. Of course, the iPod was a key driver in those sales, and Apple has sold over 320 million iPods so far, with over 45 million in the last year. (Both of those numbers include the iPod touch, which Apple considers both an iPod and an iOS device at different times.)
Although Apple didn't talk about the Mac App Store's results beyond Lion downloads, Cook did share numbers from the iOS App Store. It now contains more than 500,000 apps, 140,000 of which are made specifically for the iPad. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps, and Cook was careful to point out that Apple has paid developers more than $3 billion, which means that Apple has brought in roughly $4.3 billion in app revenue so far.
As always when Apple shares these numbers, it's worth remembering that although there's no reason to disbelieve them, there's also no question that Apple is cherry-picking those numbers that will sound the best and couching them in terms that present Apple in the brightest light. Nevertheless, it's clear that Apple is on top of the world right now.
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