Another update included as a part of the 5th installment in the iOS series, is the addition of multitasking gestures for the iPad.
There is added general support for four/five finger swiping – which is initially employed specifically for making multitasking easier: swiping up reveals the multitasking bar, pinch returns to the home screen – but, most excitingly, swiping to the left or right flicks through apps that are currently running.
Apple has dismissed this as one of the smaller updates in iOS 5 – which I suppose it is, but personally, I think it’s one of the most interesting. No-one else is doing anything like this; it could really make iOS the best environment to multitask in besides a desktop OS. Just a shame that it’s still not true multitasking.
Also announced, is a split keyboard – much akin to the one that Microsoft announced for Windows 8 not so long ago. This simply is a keyboard chopped in half, with one half on each edge of the screen, allowing you to hold the iPad by the edges and tap away with your thumbs.
Lastly, the Calendar app now takes advantage of the screen real estate with an annual view, showing each month of the year simultaneously; Mail allows slightly more advanced formatting including “bold, italic, and underlined fonts”, and Airplay supports mirroring of the iPad’s display.
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