I have just spent a few days playing with the first beta release of iO5, recently announced at Apple’s WorldWide Developer Conference.
I’m a registered developer with Apple, and the payment of an annual subscription gives you access to pre-release software for download and installation on your phones. There is also a option to subscribe to the Mac developer program, but I’ve yet to dabble seriously with Cocoa on the Mac.
My initial thoughts are that it is an impressive update, with some much needed additions and changes, like notification centre, and the brilliant shortcuts for typing (like TextExpander but built in! Hmm, wonder what Smile think about that one…)
However, my first foray into beta iPhone development has taught me one thing – don’t install it on a primary, ‘use-everyday’ phone. While the phone and most of the updates and apps work, it was laggy, with some noticeable graphic issues (email lines being duplicated, and disappearing on scrolling), and other slight issues that made the phone slightly less pleasurable to use in a day-to-day environment.
So to those of you with only one iPhone, eager to stump up the developer fee to be the first to have iO5 in your street – don’t!
