Review of the New Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android Phone.

There is always a new Android phone on the market and the Galaxy Nexus is currently the one to beat. Its the first phone running Android 4.0 a/k/a Ice Cream Sandwich. Android 4 is quite a change from previous versions and make take some getting use to. If you have an Android tablet running Honeycomb, the learning curve will be minimal.

First about the phone. Its has a Dual core 1.2 processor, Super AMOLED 4.65” 1280×760 screen (best on the market today!), 32 GB of Storage built in, 1GB of RAM, 5MP Rear camera, 1.3MP Front Camera, LED Flash, Zero Shutter Lag (Cool!), 1080p HD Video Recording, 2 Mics, NFC (Near Field Communication), and all the standard stuff: Bluetooth, WiFi, Accelerometer, Gyro, Compass, Proximity, etc.

First thing you notice is its thin, light and has a curved glass screen. The screen bright, beautiful and large, although since Android 4 does away with physical buttons and now has soft buttons on the display, they take up some of that nice new real estate. Personally, coming from HTC phones, the Samsung is a little different in that it has the power on the right side instead of the top, and the Volume on the left. It does have both the USB port and headphone port on the bottom which is great for in-car use and docking.

One thing I have seem many people complain about is that the battery door cover is flimsy or cheap. I disagree. it is a thin piece of plastic (whats not these days?) but when phones have the horrible battery life they do today you want to be able to get to the battery quickly to change it. This door snaps on tight, is not going to fall off and keeps the phone light.

The phone comes with a standard 1850 mAh battery. Which while normal, in my opinion is horrible as that would not me half way through the day. Since this is a new phone, there are no extended batteries with 2x or 3x the power so picking up a couple more batteries on Amazon for about $30 was a must.

Back to the display. Its clear, bright and beautiful. Samsung has been known for good displays that are easy to read even in bright light but this one is the best. Although lowering the brightness down a bit does help greatly with conserving battery power. Again, coming from HTC phones, the very easy on the eyes display is great. Its easy to spend time reading and working or watching video with. The feel of the phone is solid and light and I have no complaints about the design.

The new Android 4.0 is a nice step up with many new features and a better design but I am not going to get into a review of the latest version of Android here.

Aside from terrible battery life, I can only say one bad thing about the Nexus…The Camera. I came from a 8MP HTC Droid Incredible to a 8MP HTC Droid Thunderbolt and that was surprisingly a decline in camera quality. Going to this 5MP camera is even worse. Picture quality, which fine for every day use and occasional pictures, it not as good as either of my previous phones. Surprising because we expect things to get better, not worse. But I’m sure I know the reason they did this… 0 shutter lag! You open the camera and start taking pictures and it seems to take them as fast as you can press the button. Great when your trying to get some quick pictures, take a child or animal in which you might just have a few seconds to get that special moment. Most phones take 1-3 seconds to take and save a picture. Not the Nexus! Although forget about using the digital zoom as its absolutely horrible. Although panoramic picture taking is built in and works well so that’s an extra bonus. The video recording also takes 1080p HD video and does an OK job at it. If your buying a cellphone to take great pictures then this is not the phone. If you want the best phone on the market, fast, packed with features and can live with just OK photos & video then this is the one for you.

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Had a very strange experience with a company today and thought I would share it.

I have been a staples customer for well over a decade. I have a reseller account with a tax reseller ID on file, which means I don’t pay sales tax on items I intend on reselling. I also am a premier rewards customer which means you get better benefits, no wait customer service and free shipping on any order, not just the normal over $50. I typically spend between $10k and $15k a year with them.

Well I placed an order a few days ago and went online to see the estimated delivery date today and saw that order said Cancelled with no explanation why. I called up customer service who sent me to another department who after checking with someone else gave me this explanation… Basically they told me that they have the right not to sell to anyone they want and since I sometimes appear to be buying items to resell they have closed my account. Again, its always been a reseller account with a legal reseller tax ID linked to it.

Upon pushing and pushing them as to how this made no sense, The rep just kept repeating that its their privilege not to sell to resellers if they don’t want to. First, they have had me as a reseller for over 10 years. Second, I am just a one man business, not Best Buy. Third, if I am buying it or if John Doe is walking in an buying it, we pay the same price and they make the same profit, I do not get any discounts.

I asking them to have someone higher up contact me back, which they said someone would do today, did not happen.
So I ask myself what was accomplished for them? Are these sales they would make anyway? No. As I will just have to purchase these items somewhere else. Are they loosing money by selling them to me? No. Their profit was the same no matter who buys the item. Did they loose money by doing this? Absolutely as that’s 10-15 thousands dollars a year in sales they don’t get.

I’m not Staples competition. I am not undermining their prices. I am a paying customer with a long history in good standing with them.

I used staples as one of my many suppliers because they sometimes had great deals. Offered free shipping. I got my items fast and the website was easy to order from.

So do I spend more time trying to clear this up with them or just take my business else ware?

Undecided at this time. But this has certainly changed my mind about a company I once liked and was happy to give my business to. Now all I can think about is the bad taste this ridiculous action on their part as left me with when I hear the name Staples.

We use our computers for everything. Communication through Email, Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Banking, shopping, research, entertainment. In Estonia, France, Spain, Finland and Greece Internet Access has been declared “A Basic Human Right” and it’s been proposed in the United States, although not approved yet. Let’s face it, you can survive without the internet still but it would put you at a disadvantage and eventually you won’t be able to get through life without Internet access as more and more services become online only.
The problem is there are dangers but most people don’t see them or don’t want to accept them. Would you walk down a dark alley in an unfamiliar neighborhood at night? Would you buy an expensive item at 80% off from the back of a truck and believe its legal? Well you can’t just go upon your way online with your eyes closed.
I wanted to discuss some of the things to be aware of. Knowing what the threats are is the first step in protecting yourself and not falling into the traps. For starters, the most common problem today is Viruses.

How to know if you have one.
Almost all consumer viruses today present themselves as fake antivirus software. They pop up on your screen saying your infected with multiple viruses. They might call themselves “Antivirus 2011”; “Antimalware 2011”; “XP Antivirus” or something similar. Once you see this…your infected. There is no closing the program or backing out of it. It’s too late. If you try to close it, it just won’t work. If you click it you will be told this is a trail version and you need to purchase the full version, then it will ask for a credit card (I should not need to say it but…Don’t Give It!). At this point the program is also steeling credit cards numbers, passwords, anything it can so pull the power plug and get professional help to remove it.

How did you get the virus.
99% of the time you got it because you clicked on a link in an Email. Again…Don’t Do That! You may want to play that funny video your friend sent you or read that joke but a large percent of the time it’s a virus. “But it’s from my friend who sends me these things all the time”, you say. And the virus writers know this so the first thing they do when infect someone’s computer is send out an email to everyone in that persons address book with a link like “Funny Joke…Click to Read” and you get it from the friend who always sends these jokes, so you click it. Now your infected and you just sent the same thing to everyone you know.
Some viruses immediately post on your Facebook wall “Check out this video”. Your friends see it and click it not knowing it wasn’t from you, it was from your new little friend…the virus. Don’t Click It!
Attachments is the next most popular way. You get an email from Staples saying “A copy of your recent order it attached”. You think “What order?” and click the PDF or Word Document attachment. Now you got a virus.
Tax season is coming. You might get one from www.irs.gov that says “New 1040EZ Form Attached”. You think “Oh, I use the 1040EZ form” so you click it. Now you might have another deduction…A computer repair bill to remove the virus.
“But I need to click some links and some attachments are legit” you say. Yes, but use common sense. If you lost your password to Facebook or another site and click the “Recover lost password” link on the site and then they email you a link to reset your password 30 seconds later, well you just requested it, so it’s safe. Get somethinkg from your bank saying there is a problem with your account? Ok, but don’t click the link in the email. Open your browser and go to www.chase.com or whatever your bank is and log in that way. You know you get a certain document from a business associate or friend regularly then it’s probably fine. Just use good judgment.

Scams
There are too many to list but the most common is the “Family member out of the country” scam. Let’s say your son, daughter, friend has a Gmail or AOL Mail account and because remembering something more than 8 letters just proves to be too much work for them they use a password like “password” or their kids name. When the bad guys get into that account, they sit back and watch your emails. Once day they might see your traveling to Europe for that long awaited family vacation. Well when everyone is asleep in their hotel room, they send grandma an email explaining how the hotel room was robbed and everything was stolen. “Grandma,” they say, “Please wire us $4000 so we can get new passports and get home”. “Oh, how sad.” Thinks grandma as she clicks the link, enters her bank account information and just wired $4000 to some off shore account. Grandma would not give her credit card to someone on the street who asked for it and grandma needs to realize this is no different.

The Microsoft phone call
One evening you’re at home having dinner when a very polite gentleman or lady with a nice Indian accent calls and says he is from Microsoft and as part of the computer your purchased free monitoring from Microsoft is included. They have detected a virus on your computer and they want to help you remove it for free. “Please go over to your computer and click …” they say. So you do, what harm can there be in this?
“Do you see any red X’s and errors?” they ask. And wow! Look at that! A bunch of strange errors! They must really be from Microsoft your think. But these logs in windows show hundreds of entries, many of which are errors and are Perfectly Normal! But since they knew there were these errors on your computer they must be legit, so you continue to click whatever they tell you until you download software that allows them get every last bit of information from your computer now and whenever they want in the future. Solution…Hang Up The Phone!

Trade shows
Do you think because you’re at a trade show with people in your industry they are all really nice people? Would you also trust each and every one of them with your wallet? Your bank account information? Your Kids? Ever see those buckets full of free USB memory sticks that the vendors have for you to get information on their product or service? No more white papers. These days you just grab a cute little memory stick with their logo on it…and Yea! Its Free! It’s also free for the bad guys to take one or two or three, stick it in their computer and install a virus on it, then swing back and just drop it back in the bucket. Now you come along, grab the memory stick and plug it in when you get back to the hotel room. Now you have a virus! Congratulations!

There are MANY more scams out there. Back in the day, viruses were smart teenagers writing a virus so that when it made the evening news they could tell their friends “Yep! I did that.”. Now its organized crime. Usually in foreign countries doing this for what else? Money. And it’s a big business. Use common sense. Don’t click Links you were not expecting. Don’t open attachments you were not expecting. Always go to the website yourself by opening your browser and typing in the website. Do these basic things and you will be safe. Or, go ahead and click everything you want, watch that video, read that joke and just have our phone number handy so we can charge you to remove that virus when you get it. 

After about 2 months on backorder, i finally received the Case/USB Keyboard combo for my Lenovo Thinkpad Android Tablet.
I like it! Like origional IBM products, in most areas Lenovo has kept up the quality and expectations. My first thought was, its heavy. Definity changes the tablet from a slightly heavy Android tablet to a small notebook type of device. If extremly light and small is what you after, this wont give you that. What it will give you is a classy, sturdy case with a great keyboard that gives you the option of having your tablet be almost a notebook.

The tablet slides into the case and connects via the full size USB port. Once in, its sturdy and feels secure. Its not falling out or going anywhere. Opening the case and standing up the keyboard secures with a magnetic clip which lets you know it will hold and not move around. When closed, the case feels thick but safe. Your tablet is protected and you have a nice little portfolio case with your tablet, and an Android laptop.

Typing on the keboard is excellent! I can say it better than that. Its as good as a lenovo laptop keyboard, feels great, and i can type the way i would on any normal desktop or laptop keyboard. Keys are responsive and feel great. Best part is working on a Honeycomb Android tablet and having the full screen real estate to see what you doing without the onscreen keyboard poping up. It makes using something like Google Docs much more pleasent to use. By the way, i am using just that with the keyboard to write this blog post while watching my 5 year old play soccer. Its Great!

Another nice feature about the keyboard is the extra Android keys! Above the keyboard there are keys for all the major Android functions: Volume +/-, Mute, Mic on/off, Home, Brightness, Settings, Lock, Zoom and media keys for Play/Pause Forward and Reverse. Getting use to useing them makes android much faster to use. This does not affect your onscreen controls, and you can always tap your screen as normal.

The case does not interfere with your tablet connectors, charging and other connects are all still accessible. Very necessary as my only complaint on this tablet is battery life. If you wanted to insert or remove a SD card you would need to remove the tablet from the dock but that should not b a problem as you dont do that often.

The keyboard has an optical trackball device in the center where the normal eraserhead pointing device would be on a normal Thinkpad. It works very well and with the two mouse type buttons at the base makes it even more laptop like.

Overall the keyboard/case combo is excellent. Type is suburbe and the everything about the case is great. Due to the surprise snow storm (14″ and no power for days now) pictures and a video will be up as soon as I possible but the $99 (list) for the device is worth it for all it adds to your tablet.

Apples announcement today was pretty disappointing. Everyone in the tech world guesses and speculates as to what every Apple event will be about. People expected 2 new iPhones, Larger screens, New iPods but all we got was a revised version of the current phone.
The new iPhone 4S will have the A5 chip like the iPad 2 to make it faster. A higher resolution 8mp camera, Voice dictation/commands and a few other things. They announced iCloud (we already knew about this) which is their online cloud storage service for music and file sharing between your Apple iOS devices.
Just enough to make people be willing to upgrade but nothing that makes you want to run out and get one. The new phones continue to start at the normal $199 price. The iPhone 4 goes down to $99 and the old iPhone 3gs will be Free with 2 year contract.
See more at www.apple.com or watch the video at http://www.apple.com/iphone/#video-4s

After Netflix increased their prices (doubleing for some customers) their stock dropped 18%, they lost millions of customers and people said there is now room for Blockbusters rumored streaming service to move in.
Today Netflix’s CEO issued an appology. But it was just in how they implimented the change, nothing more. They are setting up a new website for the DVD by mail service called Qwikster.com They know their streaming service seriously lacks new content and they just lost STARS which was their biggest provider of new movies. So what is next for Netflix?
Hereis the CEOs full letter sent this morning…
http://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html?lnktrk=EMP&g=037296860C1F321D2FDBA0737488423E0AC0315E&lkid=netflixBlog

While everyone on the planet knows what an iPad is, even if they have never used one, Android tablets are a different story. Tell someone you have an android tablet and often you have to explain what you mean. While a iPad is a big iPhone, an Android tablet is a big Android phone.

Many companies have come out with Android tablets in the last year and none of them have taken off anywhere near the iPad but they are getting better all the time. The new Thinkpad Tablet is a business centered model from Lenovo. If your not familiar with Lenovo, they bought the Consumer PC division of IBM years ago and have kept up the same level of quality and design.

The Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet says its designed for business for a few reasons. Compared to “consumer” grade devices, a “business” grade device focuses more on power, features and durability and less on looking cool or sleek since its not being directed towards the mass market of consumers out there. The Lenovo tablet is a nice non-slip backing, gorilla glass and just feels solid. Its a more squared so its might not have that cool factor, but it gets the job done just fine.

First the tech specs…Its a Tegra 2 Dual Core 1GHz processor, 16/32 or 64 GIGs of RAM models, 10.1″ Widescreen, 1.65lbs, up to 8 hours of battery life, Bluetooth, WiFi, 3g capable, light sensor, assisted GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, 2mp front camera, 5mp rear camera and IPS technology which means its very easy to see the screen from any angle.

Picking it up, the first thing i noticed was the grip on the back of the tablet. It feels good and doesn’t feel like it will slip out of your hands. It does feel a little heavy which to me makes it feel solid. Perhaps its an illusion since its a rectangle and does not taper at the edges. It has a full size SD card slot for expansion, a 3G card slot so you can add 3g cellular connection if you wish. A docking port, a mini USB connection for charging, headphone jack and full size USB port which allows you to connect a keyboard or other devices.

Lenovo has made some small modifications to the standard Android Honeycomb 3.1 software by adding some single navigation tools which you can easily customize and don’t get in the way at all. The over all use of honeycomb is fast and snappy. Definitely comparable in speed to the iPad. I haven’t used their external keyboard/case yet but when that arrives i will and post a review. These tablets are a few weeks old and still hard to get along with the Lenovo keyboard/case.

One of the best thing about Android tablets running Honeycomb is that in the browser you can use Desktop mode which gives you full websites just like on your desktop PC. No need to work on a mobile version of a website. While this may be a little slow in the browser at times depending on the complexity of the website your on, I think its worth it. And don’t forget of course, it can run Flash! so your browsing experience on the web is almost as good as on your computer and definitely better than the iPad.

To some up i have to say i love this tablet. I recommend everything about it, except for two things, one minor, one not. First, when you turn it on, if you use a pattern log screen to unlock it, there is a 1-2 second delay before you can unlock the device. That may not be of any concern at all to most people, but i am always in a rush with technology, and when i press a button i want it to work now now now. But, i have gotten use to pausing for a whole second or so before trying to unlock it and then its fine. Secondly, battery life. While I have not conducted a battery life test, its rated at 8 hours but i say its more like 4-5 hours. That’s not bad, but coming from an iPad i wish it was a little longer. I am pretty use to plugging my devices in when in the car or office to charge but i wish it was a bit longer.

I think this is a great device that i would recommend to clients (and will) and if your a Google person like me (GMail, Calendar, Docs) there is no better experience out there than using a Android Honeycomb device like the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet. Remember to check out the video review.

If you don’t know, “cutting the cord” refers to getting rid of your cable TV (or Satellite TV in my case) and going to a completely online viewing experience. Now that does not mean watching all your TV content on your computer. There are many set top boxes that stream video to your HD TV such as Apple TV, Roku, Google TV and others. There are pros and cons to each of them, which is something you can find out more about the differences by this Google search. I am not doing to discuss that here though. Today I want to share my experiences with the process I am going through of trying this for a week in my home to see how it works for us.

So I decided on the RoKu box as it has the widest variety of content. Now in my family we rarely watch live TV. Almost everything we watch has been recorded to the DVR. This way when you sit down you have a selection of the shows you like ready and you can easily jump past the commercials. So I was not worried about not getting like TV anymore, it was just about getting access to the shows we do want.

First, my concerns. I have two boys, 5 and 7 years old, who love their morning cartoons. Most of what they watch is on Disney Junior and Nickelodeon in the mornings. I went into this knowing most of those shows are not available anywhere else. So my concern was will my kids miss them and enjoy the other shows that are age appropriate and are available. Next, was the few shows my wife watches and does not want to do without. I am much easier. I am happy watching reruns of Seinfeld, House or Star Trek. I am even happier saving the $50/month we pay for the Dish Network basic package.

So i got the middle of the 3 RokU boxes for $79.99 and connected it. For starters you will definatly want to be a NetFlix streaming customer ($7.99/month) and a Hulu Plus customer ($7.99/month). I already had Netflix so I had to join HuLu Plus. But if it worked out and i got rid of the $50 Satellite bill then that’s fine. Next you have to link all these accounts to your Roku box for the first time. When you go to use netflix, it tells you to go to the netflix site and enter a code from the screen to link them. Then you have to do this for many of the other services as well. about 10 minutes total work and we were up and running.

So then we start playing with what is available. There is quite a lot, and most of it is not immediately visable until you go to their online store (Its mainly free) and you start adding in channels to the main menu. Next you start to hit the first problem…finding something to watch. Remember “57 Channels and nothing on” by Billy Joel? Well this is more like hundreds and hundreds of channels and plenty on but you spend more time searching than watching. I am someone who prefers choices and making my own decision but it can be a bit much.

So I started writing messages online in forums discussing the Roku box. I knew that in Netflix you could add shows and movies to your Watch Instantly Queue but you can also do something similar in Hulu which helps a lot. So I put a bunch in both. Adding many of the shows I like or old shows i would like to watch the whole series over again into Hulu Favorites. I adding in some of my wife’s and many of the kids stuff. Although most of what they currently watch on Satellite was not there I adding in other kid friendly shows i thought they might like. More like hoped they would like and would help them to not get upset about not having their old shows.

Next step was to unplug the Dish Network satellite so that they had no choice but to use the new online streaming method of watching TV. Then I had to show them how to search and find what they wanted. I had them training to use the DVR on the satellite and I don’t want to hear “Daddy!!” every time they want to watch something. Fortunately they are very tech savvy and 5 and 7 years old so they picked this up quick. Also they can be trusted not to put on shows other than the cartoons we setup for them in the favorites list as I didn’t see any way to use parental controls or block content. So if yours kids are not like mine and will experiment by clicking on things, this might not be good for you. I don’t know if other boxes have other options, so you might want to check that out before settling on a Roku or other device.

First night when setting up some favorites lists I noticed some of the things I went to play on Hulu came up saying that they are only playable on the Web. Well that just stinks. Hulu can get licensing agreements to allow them to play those shows but you cant do it from any device except directly on the internet. OK, so there goes some content that we wanted. My wife, searching for her favorite shows to add came up short on a few titles and was not happy about that.

Next morning the kids work up and we searched for something for them to watch and came up with some older cartoons which they loved and a kids movie on Netflix. They were happy and didn’t complain about not having their normal line up of Disney/Nickelodeon shows at all.

A few days in and while my wife finishes up stuff on the Dish Network DVR that she wont get anymore, (ended up leaving it connected for her for a while) the kids have not complained once. They love Mr. Bean. Both the cartoon and real Rowan Atkinson one. So we have scheduled Dish to be cancelled when the current billing cycle is over. Also happier because it was costing more than I thought, it was $67 a month. Wonderful Dish Network had me under a 2 year contract so there is a $75 early termination fee. Hey Dish! Cable companies don’t do that! Then they are sending me boxes to ship the equipment back but will cost me $15 per box for shipping. Another nice perk. :(

So I do have to pickup a second Roku for the bedroom TV so my total cost is $160 for the 2 Roku boxes, $90 for cancelling Dish and shipping and then $16 a month for Netflix and Hulu+. So it will take about 4 months to recoup the cost of switching but after that I will be saving $61 a month. I can live with that. And again, for those occasional new movies I must see sooner which are out on DVD there is the local Redbox in town for $1 per night which is great deal. Thinking of the $732 is savings, watching my Tech videos on the large TV, less TV for the kids (a good thing), its a great move and more shows are coming on all the time.

Here is who would not want to make this switch…If you watch Sports or if you absolutely can’t live without certain shows that are just not on streaming TV yet. If that’s the case you will just have to wait.

Hope this helps some people decide if “Cutting the Cord” is the right thing for their family.

Microsoft has recently introduced a new feature for hotmail users. Now when you receive an email that for one reason or another just does not seem right to you, you can click MARK AS then “MY FRIEND’S BEEN HACKED!”. Thats right, got a suspecious link, or perhaps you 80 year old father is emailing you suggesting you check out the latest Rap Video, well if you think its a fake, report it.

Microsoft does not use this as the only factor and suddently turn off their account, but it triggers them to look for other signs of hacking such as if they recently sent the same email to everyone in their address book. Then they lock the account and the next time the user tries to log in it will attempt to verify they are the real owner with a series of questions or send a recovery password to them via other methods.

I know I get these all the time from friends and clients and have to call or notify them about their account being hacked and suggest they change their password immediatly. This just helps get it done faster and easier. Its a nice step and probably something others like Gmail and Yahoo Mail will soon implement or at least should implement.

On Monday Apple announced the newest version of the iOS operating system for iPhones and iPads along with a new online service called iCloud. The new features in iOS 5 sound great. Here is a summery of them…

iOS5 adds 200 new features to your iPhone or iPad but lets face it, they change a box from squared corners to rounded and they call it a new “feature”. There are just a few (but nice) improvements. Here are the big ones.

Airplay
If you have an Apple TV ($99) you could watch online content like YouTube, buy and rent movies from iTunes, but now you can also mirror you iPad. This means whatever you have on the screen on your iPad will appear wirelessly on your TV. Play a movie through NetFlix, Hulu or another app and watch it on your TV. Even more exciting is using your apps on your large HD TV. Play a game and it appears right on the screen. Very Cool.

Notifications
Until now, when there was a notification (a message from a game, an upcoming appointment, etc.) it simply popped up on your screen in the middle of whatever you were doing. Apple has copied (that’s fine…its a big improvement) the Android method of notifications. They appear unobtrusively at the top of the screen and you can drop down a menu to view all notifications.
See More http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#notification

PC Free
If you went to the store and bought an iPad or iPhone and ran to your car to unpack and play with it you may have been very annoyed to find it would not work until you connected it to a computer to activate it. (Apples way of tracking whats going on with it and who you are). No Longer. You can now get your device and it no longer requires a PC. Nice of them to listen to their customers on this one. They will also be updating your devices with new software versions over the air, not requiring you to connect it to iTunes to download an update.

Reminders
A cool app that keeps track of your lists but also does much more. They can be location based. Using the GPS in your iPhone, you can set a reminder to pop up when you leave your home. So you get outside and it alerts you something like “Don’t forget the report for work” or your on your way home and since it knows your not at the office anymore it alerts you “Your wife said to bring home milk”. The reminders app looks nice and clean and easy to use.

Newsstand
Magazine subscriptions just got much easier. Lets face it, we all would like to be able to read all our books and magazines on our device, but it just hasn’t worked out that way. Until now each magazine you might want to subscribe to on your device had its own app to install and there was no consistence. That will all change with Newsstand. You can go to one app that will have all your magazine subscriptions and they will automatically update in the background each time a new issue is available. That’s the way it should be. Turn on your iPad and its all just there!

Safari
There have always been many alternative browsers you can buy for the iPad and you should have bought one because the Safari browser left a lot to be desired. They are finally updating it to have tabbed browsing and be more functional like on your computer.

Camera
No longer will you have to try to find the screen button to take a picture when holding the camera, tapping in the wrong place, missing that picture and getting annoyed. Hold your camera sideways and press the volume up button to snap the picture, just like with a real digital camera. It should have always been that way! They say they have also made it faster and easier to get to.

Mail
Did you ever realize that you could not BOLD, ITALIC, or UNDERLINE in emails before? Well soon you can. There are other nice features finally being added too.

WiFi Sync
Well its about time! No more connecting your iPad or iPhone to the computer to sync videos, pictures, music or anything else. It can be done all wirelessly with iOS5. Again, the way it should have been.

Multitasking Gestures
Just like you can use two fingers to pinch and zoom pictures, there is a host of new multi finger gestures. Swipe left or right to switch between apps. Swipe up to bring up the multitasking bar, no more double clicking the button and doing it too slowly so you get thrown back to your main app screen then having to go back into the app then…whatever…its getting easier.

Well that is the list of features that 99% of the people will use the most. You can see more at Apple’s website at http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/

iCloud
Yes its just another online cloud storage service like Dropbox or Amazon Cloud Storage but since its Apple, it will be very seem less and provide some other nice features across your apple devices. If your a big apple user, someone who uses an iPad, iPhone and Mac then this is great. If you use just an iPad or iPhone its nice but not as big a deal.
iCloud can keep your email, contacts, calendar and more and automatically provides the same information across your apple devices so you always have access to that information. You can also store your iTunes purchased music for streaming, so you don’t need to keep all that stuff on your iPhone or iPad taking up space. Being that its Apple and they already have the largest music store in the world (iTunes) has also worked it out so you can let them scan your computer hard drive for music you already own and they will make those songs available online through iCloud as well. You get 5Gigs of data, which does not sound like much, but your purchased music, apps, books and photo stream don’t count towards that space. That 5Gigs can be used just for your documents, camera photos and other data.. Its Free for the 5Gigs and we suspect you can purchase more space if needed.

You can always find out more at www.apple.com