Apple iOS 5 review

There's a lot to like about the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, but some rough edges remain as we discover in our review.

IT Pro Verdict

Even if iOS 5 wasn't filled to the rafters with new and improved features, it's hard to argue against installing it since it's free of charge. For existing iOS owners it's not a question of whether to upgrade, but when to upgrade. This will depend on whether the apps you depend on are compatible with iOS 5 and, if not, when they will be updated and have made their way through Apple's approval process. However, it's a different story for dedicated users of rival mobile operating systems. Although we think iOS 5 is on balance the best mobile OS currently available, Apple is not budging on its design decisions such as no access to the file system. If you've been dissatisfied with iOS before, there's nothing here to change your mind.

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You'll need some patience to use iCloud as the initial backup can take hours depending on the upload speed of your broadband connection, although subsequent backups should be faster as there's less data to upload. On a residential ADSL connection with a theoretical upload speed of 1.3Mbit/s, backing up 2.8GB of data to iCloud was an overnight job.

You'll need some patience to use iCloud as the initial backup can take hours depending on the upload speed of your broadband connection.

Another component to iCloud is the ability to synchronise data such as your calendars, contacts and documents between your computers and your iOS devices. This will be old hat to seasoned GMail and Exchange users. It differs from Exchange and Apple's previous online synching efforts since third-party apps can use iCloud to synch their data. Support is currently thin on the ground, but hopefully it will increase in future we've already found it to be indispensable in the few apps that currently do support it.

Backing up to and restoring data from iCloud can take a while, so faster but still wireless alternative is synching over WiFi. This still takes more time than synching over USB, but unlike that wired method the synching takes place in the background so you can still use most apps. Thankfully, WiFi synching only starts when your iOS device is plugged in and charging so it doesn't run down your battery.

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