Apple revealed iOS 5 at WWDC 2011. iOS 5 is the most extensive iOS update to date with over 200 new features. The first beta of iOS 5 was seeded to developers that very same day and recently, the seventh beta of iOS 5 was seeded. Now Apple has seeded a near final version of iOS 5 to its global carrier partners who are carrying out their internal tests, before Apple's latest mobile software comes loaded on the next generation iPhone.
Apart from iOS 5, Apple's carrier partners are also carrying out support training so that their staff is fully equipped with knowledge on how to operate and troubleshoot the software once it is publicly released. iCloud, Apple's new cloud based service which is an essential part of iOS 5, is also undergoing support training by the carrier partners. The training materials being used have been jointly developed by Apple and the carrier partners and they contain video guides and lengthy PDFs full of information.
The near final beta of iOS 5 which has been seeded to some of Apple's most prominent carrier partners contains several new features that we have not seen in all previous iOS 5 beta firmwares. It is being said that FaceTime over 3G is officially a go in this final iOS 5 beta and is being tested on high priority, previously if you wanted to run FaceTime over 3G, you had to jailbreak your iPhone. Other than this it is also reported by testers that the near final test version of iOS 5 is loaded with Nuance Dictation which is a voice recognition system that converts the words you speak into text, much like Android's speech to text feature. The brand new iOS 5 Notification Center is also much like Android's notification system.
This development is pretty indicative of the fact that we are nearing the release of iOS 5. Many had speculated that iOS 5 will be released to the public at iPhone 5 release event. Up till now, it has been rumoured that iPhone 5 release date is October 21st. However, it is likely that Apple may release iOS 5 well before that. iCloud will be shipped concurrent to iOS 5 as it too is also in beta state as of now.
Tell us, how anxious are you waiting for iOS 5 on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch?