There will always come a point when hardware limitations prevent previous-generation iPhone and iPod touch models from receiving the latest version of iOS. The issue is more prominently discussed in the Android community due to the frequency of updates and the time-consuming process vendors face when making customized software elements available on a new Android build. But owners of older versions of Apple’s mobile devices also know the pain of seeing features added to iOS that they will never get to enjoy until they purchase a more modern device — until now.

A group of independent iOS developers have taken it upon themselves to bring a number of the great features iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners enjoy to the first and second-generation iPhone and iPod touch. Using a custom iOS build called Whited00r, popular iOS 5 features including enhanced mutitasking support, reminders, home screen folders, video recording and even Newsstand are made available on older iPhone and iPod touch devices.

Released earlier this week, Whited00r 5.1 is a custom version of Apple’s iOS 3.1.3 software. While the software affords a number of great iOS 5 features, some of the most sought-after elements newer iOS builds including Notification Center and App Store access are not available in Whited00r. Other features such as iCloud have been recreated to an extent — iCloud support in this custom iOS build uses Dropbox as a back end.

Owners of Apple’s iPhone, iPhone 3G or first and second-generation iPod touch obviously don’t have to worry about voiding any warranties by installing Whited00r since their warranties have long since expired, but things can always go awry when working with unauthorized software. Many users report success with Whited00r, however, and the software’s developers have a forum in place to help users who run into trouble.

Whited00r 5.1 is available for free and can be installed using Apple’s iTunes software on a Mac or a Windows PC. The team behind Whited00r recommends that users set up their devices as new rather than restoring from a backup after installing the customer software.

If you haven’t seen the pattern before, well, you just haven’t been looking — Apple might not be the first with a feature all of the time, but the company almost always has the last laugh. Remember what happened with copy and paste? It’s almost unimaginable to think that the iPhone didn’t have this feature until almost three years into its existence, but when Apple introduced it, it worked like nothing before it — and by that, I mean it worked, and worked effortlessly. Notifications were arguably the biggest pain point for most iOS users, and Apple, as you know, has addressed them in a big way with Notification Center. How do you access Notification Center? You simply swipe down from the top of the device and a drawer-like panel slides down and displays your notifications. It sounds familiar, yes, but it’s really so much more than what we’ve seen in Android so far. Hit the jump to read on.

How does this differ from Android? Well, for starters, Android populates your status bar at the top of the device with the icon of the app from which you received a notification, and when you run out of screen space, it hides the rest. To see your actual notifications, you pull down the notification pane, and they are listed in there in order from newest to oldest. And you have zero control over those notifications. All you can do is clear them all, or tap them one by one, which brings you into the app that notified you, until they are all clear. You can’t prioritize, choose the sort order, determine what apps you want to actually be in that drawer — nothing.

Beyond Apple’s superior Notification Center UI and the great widget support, initially for weather forecasts and a real-time stock ticker, the company that usually doesn’t give users such fine grain control completely delivers this time. Notification Center lets you chose not only the order in which your notifications are sorted, but also how many notifications from each app you’d like to display (either 1, 5, or 10), and whether or not they appear on the lock screen.

This alone is invaluable — while I get a tiny icon in the status bar in Android letting me know I have a new email, with iOS I can now see a preview of that message along with others. Additionally, I can swipe a particular notification and be directly taken to that individual message or alert right from the lock screen. You can also clear just a specific notification in Notification Center as well, which actually makes my workflow much easier since I rely on calendar events to run my life, and I can leave that calendar notification in the drawer even past the meeting time to remind me of something I need to follow up on.

When you get a notification and are in an app, the top part of the screen will flip down like a number on an old analog alarm clock, displaying your notification. After a few seconds, it will flip back up to reveal the rest of the screen. This also is another place where Android hasn’t innovated, as getting a notification on an Android phone simply displays the icon in the top status bar, but doesn’t give you a preview of that message for all apps, just certain ones. Apple certainly took the drawer concept from Android, but as it has done with countless other features, the company implemented it better than anyone else. Apple didn’t borrow it from Android… Apple stole it, which is why the implementation is as good as it is. If Apple borrowed it, we’d all just have a drawer stuffed full of dirty socks. And notifications.

Apple introduced iOS 5 and its new widget system just last week during WWDC, and a day later it was jailbroken. Now, Cydia developers have taken iOS 5 a step further by providing new third-party applications that allow users to tweak the Notification Center with new widgets. iOS 5 currently only offers widgets for viewing the weather or a stock ticker, but one app — UISettings — will allow users to quickly toggle their network and phone controls, too. Similarly, a widget called MusicCenter is being developed that enables users to view the current audio track they’re listening to. We can’t wait to see what other developers have in store. Hit the jump for an image of UISettings.

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After spending three days with iOS 5 on multiple devices now, I can confidently say that this is the mobile operating system to beat. It gives you just enough of what was missing, while still remaining solid (“closed” — a.k.a. fast, responsive, apps that don’t steal your data, etc). There have definitely been some slowdowns in daily usage due to the fact that the OS is in beta, and battery life has no doubt taken a hit, but this isn’t meant to be used on consumer devices. And even with those hiccups, it still out performs many Android handsets (though not the Galaxy S II, that battery is Teen Wolf). Hit the break for the rest of my thoughts after day three.

Notification Center continues to be something I’m not sure how we lived without (actually, I am sure… I cursed those pop-up notifications every time they came in), and iMessage is everything that BlackBerry Messenger is, but better. Why? You’ll be able to communicate with over 200 million people (and growing) as opposed to only 45 million using BlackBerry smartphones. It’s also a much cleaner interface, and it combines text messages, MMS and iMessages into one gorgeous app. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that it can be used across multiple devices, allowing users to continue their conversations while moving from one to the next.

The little updates also really make me happy. Things like being able to drag and drop calendar appointments, being able to select and mark multiple messages as read, the new alternative routes in Google Maps, the alignment grid in the camera, and even the Reminders app, which delivers incredible geo-fence-based reminders while also syncing with all of my Exchange notes. This is the mobile operating system to beat, folks.

For earlier thoughts on iOS 5, be sure to check out day one and day two.

When Apple finally added cut, copy and paste support to iOS, it made the long and painful wait its customers endured completely worthwhile. Apple’s implementation was so much better than competing platforms, it really wasn’t even in the same league. The UI was fantastic and the operation was both intuitive and precise. This is what we have come to expect from Apple when it corrects its past mistakes and omissions. And yet with the introduction of a completely revamped notification system in iOS 5, the Cupertino-based technology giant took a different approach: it did not lead, it followed. I’ll elaborate…

Apple’s new notification system works thusly: when a new event triggers a notification, one of three things happens. On the lock screen, a notification will appear with an icon representing the associated application positioned to the far left of the notification. The user can either ignore the notification, or slide the icon all the way to the right side of the screen to open the appropriate app. Or, if the device is in use, a banner will display across the top of the display containing the notification. The user can either ignore it or tap it to open the appropriate app. Finally, the old notification UI may be used, causing a pop-up to display at the center of the screen until it is dismissed.

Apple also introduced the iOS Notification Center, a pull-down aggregate of all notifications that is clearly “inspired” by Android. It is an obvious refinement of Google’s notification pane though, and it also allows users to customize the number of notifications each app will display in the Notification Center. It even supports widgets and third-party developers can build their own.

The iOS 5 notification system is, without question, leaps and bounds better than the old iOS notification system. Let’s face it, though — as horrible as iOS notifications have been until now, anything would be better. The system still has plenty of room for improvement however, and unlike Apple’s cut, copy and paste implementation, iOS 5 notifications are not class-leading. Instead, the two-year-old notification UI found in webOS is still iOS’ superior.

WebOS removes the additional layer of complication introduced by the Notification Center, and Android’s notification pane before it. Notifications are represented by a single row of small icons at the bottom of the display. To view a notification after it has been displayed and minimized, the user simply taps the icon. The message then reappears and the user can either open the relevant app by tapping the notification, or dismiss it by swiping the message off the screen to the left or right. The system is incredibly simple, extremely logical and, to quote one Steven P. Jobs, “it just works.”

Another uncharacteristic oversight is Apple’s placement of the notification banner at the top of the display. While the mechanism is infinitely better than then old disruptive notifications, it’s nowhere near as smart as webOS. When a notification pops up at the bottom of a webOS phone, it acts just like an iOS 5 notification and covers part of the UI. Then, however, it is reduced to an icon that pushes the entire UI up and out of the way. This means even though the notification is occupying screen real estate, the user can continue to perform each and every function he or she could if the notification was not on the screen. It also means the notification is still easily accessible from any screen, whenever the user chooses to interact with it; there is no need for a separate drop-down pane to collect notifications.

In iOS 5, the notification banner hangs over the top of the display, obscuring the status bar and the area beneath it. Unfortunately, the area beneath the status bar is where the iOS UI places buttons that control key functions. So, for example, notifications cover most of the send button in the email app or most of the back button in messaging apps or Twitter apps. If a user tries to sneak a tap on those buttons, it is highly likely he or she will instead tap the notification by accident and leave the current app. This, some might argue, is even worse and more disruptive than a pop-up that needs to be dismissed, as seen with the old iOS notifications.

If the user does not immediately interact with the notification, it disappears into the Notification Center. For active smartphone users, this seemingly great notification hub can often become a cluttered mess until various notifications are acted on or dismissed. Apple does give users the ability to customize the number of notifications each app can display in the Notification Center, which is much appreciated, but it is still nowhere near as elegant as a single row of icons that is always visible and easy to interact with. This is what webOS affords.

There are certain areas where Apple’s system does make advancements in the space, such as the ability to customize notification behavior for individual applications. I also very much like that I can open a new message or relevant app without unlocking the device by interacting with a notification on the lock screen. Uncharacteristically, however, the behavior Apple chose for this interaction is contradictory. Elsewhere in the UI, swiping from side to side on a message gives the user the option to delete that message. On the lock screen, that same swipe gesture opens the relevant app, where logic might dictate that a swipe should dismiss notifications that are not of interest.

I really expected more from Apple. And so much more is possible.

Why can’t I dismiss a notification that appears at the top of the screen? Why can’t I dismiss individual notifications on the lock screen? Why can’t multiple notifications appear at once at the top of the screen with a better UI? Why can’t I mark a new email as read simply by interacting with a notification? Why can’t developers have access to APIs that give their users the capability to perform unique interactions with notifications that perform custom functions? All this and more might be coming down the road, but Apple has had far too long and has innovated in far too many other areas for the company to simply catch up in this crucial area of the UX.

I expected innovation.

After two days of use with Apple’s brand new iOS 5 on both an iPhone 4 and iPad 2, I can confidently say that iOS 5 has not only added much-needed features and enhancements, but has pushed Apple’s mobile operating system even further out into the lead ahead of competitors. What’s incredible is that Apple’s first beta release of iOS 5 for developers already runs better than any production BlackBerry or Android OS phone, and in daily use, I haven’t had any major issues at all with the OS. Hit the break some more impressions following my thoughts after day one.

Using iMessages, Apple’s new messaging service, is so simple yet powerful — I’ve been able to talk to over 20 friends, all of whom have loaded up iOS 5, from both my iPhone and iPad seamlessly and effortlessly. Notifications are a major positive as well — I still can’t get over how much more productive I am without being interrupted every 25 seconds. The powerful ability to customize the lock screen however you like ensures that you get the right information you need, and fast.

Even iCloud has worked flawlessly, and it’s in beta, running on a non-final release of OS X Lion, connecting to first beta versions of iOS 5 — it’s ridiculous if you think about how wide the gap is between Apple and its competitors. Photo Stream is, for lack of a better word, magical. Having all of my photos and videos wirelessly, automatically, and effortlessly synced to all devices including computers is fantastic. I also love having my device backed up once a day to iCloud — I don’t have to remember to plug it in, wait for it to sync, and back it up. Additionally, it’s almost a surreal experience to download an app on your iPhone and see it instantly download to your iPad as well, or vice-versa. The same goes for music, iBooks, and more.

Finally, the new accessibility options Apple has included in iOS 5 are nothing short of incredible. You can enable the LED flash to blink during alerts, and you can even create your own custom vibration patterns for specific contacts by tapping out patterns on the display.

I’ll report back tomorrow with any other findings and feedback.

I’ve been using iOS 5 on my primary iPhone 4 since it was made available to developers yesterday around 5:00 p.m. This is the most solid iOS beta Apple has ever released, so far. What’s even more impressive is that Apple seems to have fixed every single gripe I’ve had with the platform. Little things that drove me insane that were available on other mobile operating systems — like setting a default calendar notification time so you can quickly go into the calendar app, jot down the meeting, location, and time, and bounce out — have now been added to iOS. Hit the break for my thoughts after spending some time with iOS 5.

Notifications, which were probably the biggest issue in people had with iOS, work amazingly well now. Yes, they took a page out of the Android book with the drop down notification “drawer”, though in typical Apple fashion, it looks and works better. I love that there’s a stock ticker and weather in there, and I love that I can customize what I want to appear in Notification Center. I can choose the type of alert, how many messages to show, in what order, sorted how I want, and whether to show it on the lock screen or not for privacy. That’s invaluable to an iOS user. The one thing I’d like to see, however, is the ability to push the notification off the screen like webOS. For instance, you’re in an app, you see a message at the top, and want to get rid of it. Instead of waiting for it to go away after a few seconds, ideally, I’d love to be able to swipe it off to the side and continue my task. Notifications from all apps work, by the way — they don’t have to be updated because Apple controls those APIs.

iMessage. While I haven’t spent much time in it, I have talked with a few friends, and it’s pretty ingenious how Apple just extended their SMS / MMS app into a full-fledged messaging service. When you start a new message and type in your buddy’s contact information, Apple will quickly check if they’re on iOS 5 and automatically switch from green (SMS) to blue (iMessage), and you’re off and running. Once you talk to someone on iMessage, future conversations started will show a blue chat icon next to their name as they will be iMessages — brilliant.

Other favorites so far are the ability to finally customize alert tones for email, calendar reminders, and more; email flagging; widgets in the Notification Center; wireless iCloud backups and of course, the ability to use the phone while it’s syncing. I’ll report back tomorrow with more.

Welcome one and all to BGR’s live coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote! Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on hand to unveil the latest Apple has to offer, and we’re expecting a huge event despite the fact that Apple is not expected to reveal a new iPhone model at the show this year. Instead, Apple will focus on software, with the big addition being the company’s new iCloud service. Apple will also show off more OS X Lion details during the keynote, but we have to admit: we’re much more anxious to see Apple show off iOS 5 for the first time. We think iOS 5 is going to be the most significant update to the platform since Apple introduced the App Store alongside iOS 2.0. A completely rebuilt notification system, basic widget functionality, a new automatic app update delivery mechanism and deep social integration are among the changes we’ll be looking for, but we’re certain that Apple has a few surprises up its sleeve as well. Hit the break for our live coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote for the latest updates!

12:28PM:We're heading in and should be seated soon!

12:40PM:Doors are finally opening.

12:45PM:Alright we're almost seating, there are still tons of people pouring in.

12:49PM:We have a feeling the event might be starting a little bit late as we are getting reports that WWDC attendees aren't even in the building yet, but still in line outside.

12:59PM:"Please turn all your devices on silent."

1:01PM:Pair of MacBook Pros on stage, for demo time, obviously!

1:02PM:Steve Jobs is out! Everyone is applauding!

1:03PM:There are over 5,200 people here today — the biggest place we have, sorry to everyone who couldn't make it.

1:03PM:over 100 hands on labs, 1,000 Apple engineers, and 120 sessions.

1:04PM:We're here to talk about 3 things today. And we're going to talk about software. Hardware is the brain, software is the soul.

1:04PM:We're starting with Lion. Phil Schiller is up on stage/

1:05PM:Ha — he's trying to get people riled up in Ballmer-esque fashion.

1:05PM:"We have over 54 million active Mac users."

1:05PM:Sorry guys, we're having major camera issues! Working on it!

1:06PM:PC market has shrank 1% this year, Mac has outgrown the industry. Products are incredible like the MacBook Air

1:06PM:Leading in notebooks, over 70% of Mac sales are notebooks

1:07PM:Entire PC industry wants to copy our hardware. We make the best, not just hardware, but software, too.

1:07PM:Showing off OS X 10 years ago.

1:08PM:Next up is Lion. There are over 250 new features, only have time to show 10.

1:08PM:Multitouch gestures. We have built multitouch trackpads into all our laptops

1:08PM:Kinetic scrolling, multitouch zoom and taps and swipes

1:10PM:Phil is talking about fullscreen apps and how in Lion there is a simple swipe to get in and out.

1:11PM:Mission control is up

1:13PM:We're now seeing full screen apps — three-finger swipe will take you from the full screen back to the desktop/dashboard.

1:14PM:The three-finger swipes will also switch from one app to the next. To exit full screen it just takes one click.

1:15PM:PhotoBooth looks awesome full screen — especially with effects being added in real time as you add/remove them.

1:15PM:Three-finger swipe up on the trackpad will bring mission control back into focus.

1:16PM:Spaces can bee added simply by clicking at the top corner of mission control, and windows can then be added to a new space by simply dragging and dropping.

1:17PM:When you close a space in mission control view, the windows within will slide back into the main windows — very smooth.

1:17PM:Spaces can bee added simply by clicking at the top corner of mission control, and windows can then be added to a new space by simply dragging and dropping.

1:18PM:Schiller is talking about the Mac App Store now, which is now the number one PC sales channel for software, passing Best Buy.

1:19PM:The Mac App Store is now built right into Lion. There are also push notifications to alert users of updates. Auto updates are also supported.

1:20PM:Launchpad — a simple pinch gesture brings up an iOS-like inteface where you can access all of your apps and launch them.

1:21PM:The next key feature is Resume — when you launch an application in Lion, it will bring you right back to where you were when you left the software. The feature even works after a reboot!

1:21PM:Applications, Spaces and settings are all covered by Resume.

1:22PM:Auto-save — Lion will automatically save documents in the background with no need for the user to do anything.

1:23PM:The feature can be enabled and/or disabled for each document individually. There's also a lock feature that will stop auto-saving at a certain point.

1:23PM:Versions — like Dropbox, Lion will make past versions of documents accessible in a document history.

1:24PM:The Versions interface is similar to Time Machine — you can scroll through every version of a document with a smooth animated interface.

1:24PM:Sorry again for the lack of photos guys... we're working on it!

1:26PM:Now we're watching a demo of these new features. Launchpad really is awesome — think of it as a giant iOS home screen that is automatically populated with all of the apps on your computer.

1:27PM:Auto-save also means there is no prompt to save a document if you're made changes just before closing a program. When you open it again, it will be exactly as you left it — including cursor position!

1:28PM:With Versions — and this is awesome — you can view multiple versions of a document in live windows. This means you can actually copy/paste things from one version of a doc to another!

1:29PM:Feature number 9: Airdrop — this basically a peer-to-peer Wifi-based network that lets you move files from one computer to another by simply dragging and dropping.

1:30PM:When you drag the doc to another person's PC — which will appear automatically in Finder — they get a pop up where they can accept the transfer.

1:30PM:The last feature is a completely redesigned Mail app. Needless to say, it looks A LOT like the iPad version.

1:32PM:The coolest feature of the new Mail app is easily conversation view. Think Gmail threads but a little sexier.

1:32PM:Craig is coming back up to demo the new Mail app now.

1:33PM:The message list runs down the left side in a column just like the iPad version. Folders are further to the left, and they're hidden when you don't need them.

1:33PM:The search is enhanced, and it suggests searches as you type based on your mail and your search history.

1:34PM:Users can also search for keywords and date-ranges with one string. Awesome!

1:35PM:Finally, conversation view will auto-hide everything but the new content within each message. Craig just poked Gmail for now doing that very well. Wink, wink.

1:36PM:Lion also features a new migration feature for users switching from Windows, not just another Mac. There are over 3,000 new APIs total in Lion. Get cracking, developers!

1:36PM:Lion will be available ONLY in the Mac App Store. No more discs!

1:37PM:Lion will be about a 4GB download and a single purchase can be installed on ALL of your authorized Macs.

1:37PM:Lion will cost... just 29.99 when it's released. WOW!

1:38PM:Lion developer preview will be available today, and the release version will be available in July.

1:38PM:Next up... iOS 5! Scott Forstall is coming up on stage

1:39PM:To date, Apple has sold over 200 million iOS devices total.

1:39PM:That makes iOS the No.1 mobile operating system with over 44% of the market.

1:40PM:In the first 14 months, Apple has sold more than 25 million iPads. That's iPad and iPad 2 combined.

1:40PM:Apple has sold more than 15 billion songs through the iTunes music store across all platforms.

1:41PM:More than 130 million books have been downloaded through iBooks.

1:41PM:There are now more than 425,000 apps in the App Store, with more than 90,000 of them built for the iPad.

1:42PM:The iOS App Store has served more than 14 billion downloads, and more than $2.5 billion has been paid out to devs.

1:43PM:Apple now holds more than 225 million accounts on file, all with credit cards and one-click purchasing enabled.

1:44PM:iOS 5 is a MAJOR release, Forestall stressed. There are more than 1,500 APIs and more than 200 new features!

1:44PM:The first new feature being covered... NOTIFICATIONS!

1:45PM:Apple has served more than 100 billion push notifications so far.

1:46PM:Apple has completely redesigned the push notification system for iOS. Notification Center is the big addition. It combines all over your notifications into one panel that is accessed by swiping down from the top. Oh hi, Android.

1:46PM:Stocks and weather sit at the top of the notification center.

1:46PM:Notifications are no longer disruptive — they appear at the top of the display and they do not interrupt usage.

1:47PM:The lock screen displays recent notifications as well, and a swipe on a notification will open the applicable app.

1:48PM:A swipe brings you right to the relevant message, by the way, as longer as the developer makes full use of the notifications APIs.

1:48PM:Second feature: Newsstand

1:50PM:Newsstand lets users access magazines through a new, separate interface. It is accessible in the App Store and there is a new newsstand on the home screen where all of the magazines are accessible (it works like a folder).

1:50PM:Background downloading is supported!

1:50PM:Newspapers and magazines can take advantage of newsstand.

1:51PM:Third feature... Twitter integration.

1:51PM:Twitter is now built into the Settings app in iOS. Every twitter app will work with the new single sign on feature!

1:52PM:Twitter is now integrated with the Camera and Photos apps in iOS. Photos can be tweeted from either app now.

1:53PM:Other apps that have twitter integration are Safari, Maps, and YouTube. Also, contacts features contact integration — contact photos will automatically be pulled from Twitter.

1:53PM:Next feature: Safari. Nearly 2/3 of all mobile web browsing is done with Safari.

1:54PM:Safari now has a Reader feature that takes the story you're reading and eliminates all of the noise around the story and just displays the images and text from the body.

1:54PM:Safari will also let users email a link AND story content right from within the browser.

1:55PM:There's also a new Reading List feature that lets users save stories to read later. Uh oh, Instapaper.

1:56PM:Safari will also now include full tabbed browsing. Tabs are displayed across the top and switching between them is lightning fast. We're watching a demo now.

1:57PM:The Read Later feature is accessible on the same button as bookmarks, and it will save items across all of your iOS devices and Mac computers.

1:58PM:Next feature: Reminders. 50,000 apps were just made obsolete.

1:59PM:Reminders is a reminder and task feature that lets you set time or location-based reminders.

1:59PM:In other words, a date and time can trigger a reminder, or a GPS location can trigger a reminder. Reminder also sync with Exchange which is nice.

1:59PM:Next new feature: camera.

2:00PM:The iPhone 4 is now the most popular camera phone used to take photos on flickr and second most popular over all.

2:01PM:The new camera app opens much, much, much faster. Camera is also accessible with a double-tap on the home button.

2:01PM:The volume up button can also be used to take shots. FINALLY!

2:02PM:The native camera app now also has grid lines available and pinch to zoom works in the UI. There's even a zoom-lock feature!

2:02PM:There are now integrated editing features as well. Cropping, red eye removal, and one-tap enhance are all supported.

2:03PM:The seventh new feature being covered is a redesigned Mail app.

2:03PM:Rich text formatting is now supported, indentations are supported, dragging addresses between cc and bcc is supported, and so is flagging!

2:04PM:Search now supports content searching on the server as well.

2:04PM:There's also added support for SMIME for enterprise users.

2:05PM:Now we're getting a demo. Flags can be added and removed with a single tap, and there's also an integrated dictionary that lets you look up words in emails with just a tap.

2:06PM:There's also a new system-wide thumb keyboard available. Users can now split the keyboard into two halves and thumb-type very easily. Not sure how the split keyboard will be received, but it's nifty.

2:07PM:Eight new feature: PC Free. Uh oh... Tons of applause.

2:08PM:With iOS 5, users will no longer need a PC to activate iOS devices. FINALLY! The "post-PC" marketing is slightly more realistic now...

2:08PM:Setup is now done right on the device, as is activation.

2:08PM:Software updates are now OTA (over the air)!!

2:09PM:Delta update are supported as well, so only changes to the OS will be updates and the entire OS doesn't need to be downloaded.

2:10PM:Ninth new feature: Game Center. That's still around?

2:11PM:iOS is by far the most popular gaming platform in the mobile world, and Apple currently has over 50 million registered Game Center users. That's 20 million more than Xbox Live.

2:11PM:Game Center now supports user photos, game recommendations, and game purchase support right within Game Center.

2:12PM:Turn-based game support is now supported as well (think Scrabble).

2:12PM:iMessage is the next iOS 5 feature being covered.

2:12PM:WOW. Apple is launching a new iOS-only messaging service called iMessage.

2:13PM:It supports text, photos, videos, contacts, group messaging, delivery receipts, read receipts, typing indications, and multi-device support so you can move from an iPhone to an iPad and not miss anything.

2:14PM:It is fully encrypted as well, and it works over Wi-Fi or cellular connections.

2:15PM:Poor, poor third-party messaging app devs. We're now seeing a demo and it really is BBM for iPhone. Multi-platform is all app like WhatsApp and Kik have going for them now...

2:16PM:We're now seeing how easy it is to send photos and videos — the interface, by the way, is the same as the Messaging app so it's beautiful and familiar.

2:17PM:Those are just 10 of the 200 new user features. Others include TV mirroring, which let's you mirror your iPad 2 to your TV to Apple TV.

2:18PM:Wi-Fi sync to iTunes is now supported as well! Your iOS device will back up and sync to iTunes automatically over Wi-Fi. FINALLY

2:19PM:iOS 5 is available to developers TODAY. Fire up those accounts, fellas!

2:19PM:iOS 5 will ship to end users this fall.

2:19PM:The iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, both iPads and the two latest iPod touch models are all supported.

2:20PM:Next up... Steve Jobs is coming back up on stage to unveil iCoud!

2:21PM:iCloud has been in the making for 10 years, when APple realized the PC was going to become your digital hub — one device to hold all of your media.

2:22PM:A new problem has risen lately though — multiple devices all need the same data and it's become necessary to sync them all separately. Wonder where this is going...

2:22PM:With iCloud, the digital hub is being moved to the cloud.

2:23PM:So now, photos (even new ones as you take them), music, etc are synced to the cloud automatically and they become available across all devices.

2:24PM:iCloud also is completely integrated with your apps — everything happens automatically. "It just works."

2:24PM:"Why should I believe them? They're the ones who brought me MobileMe?" Steve joked. Zing!

2:25PM:Contacts, calendar and Mail are no longer MobileMe apps — they're now iCloud apps. For example, a new contact will automatically be uploaded to the cloud and synched across all devices. Changes to existing contacts are handled the same way.

2:26PM:iCloud also supports calendar sharing, so changes you make on your calandar will automatically be visible by anyone you share your calendar with.

2:27PM:Jobs also highlighted the fact that there are no ads involved with this service... at all.

2:27PM:MobileMe was $99... Mail, Calendar and Contacts with iCloud are completely free!

2:28PM:There are also three new apps coming with iCloud that weren't in MobilMe. The first is the App Store.

2:28PM:Apps purchased on one devices can now be added to any other device through iCloud.

2:29PM:For future devices, all apps are automatically added to all devices.

2:30PM:The next app they added is iBooks — books purchased on one device can be downloaded to all devices. Also, your read history is synched between devices as well, as is reading position.

2:30PM:Finally, Apple added automatic cloud backup.

2:31PM:The service will back up your important data once daily, and when you get a new device, all of your data will sync wirelessly from the cloud.

2:31PM:Uh oh... there are three more apps being added to iCloud!

2:31PM:First... Documents in the Cloud.

2:32PM:Documents now sync automatically via the cloud from one device to all your other devices.

2:32PM:Pages, Numbers and Keynote are all supported as of the latest versions of the apps, which have already been released. Sneaky!

2:34PM:There is a new interface within the apps that lets you view all of the documents that are synced to the cloud, and they all sync automatically.

2:36PM:Apps can store documents to iCloud as well!

2:37PM:Developers have access to iCloud Documents in the Cloud APIs with the iOS 5 SDK.

2:37PM:Macs and PCs are supported as well! This is a huge ding for Dropbox and the like.

2:38PM:Next up, Photo Stream.

2:38PM:Photo Stream will sync photos taken on any device to the cloud, and then to all other devices.

2:39PM:The functionality is all built right into the apps, so there is nothing new to install or configure. It all just works.

2:40PM:Photo Stream is also built into Lion on Macs, and on PCs it will work with the Pictures folder. What's more, Photo Stream will work on Apple TV as well.

2:42PM:Another feature of Photo Stream is memory management. It will store the last 1,000 photos on each iOS devices, and all photos on Macs and PCs. In the cloud, photos will be stored for 30 days so they can be synced to all other devices before they are automatically removed.

2:42PM:Eddie Cue is on stage now to demo Photo Stream.

2:43PM:He just took two photos on stage with an iPhone and as soon as he launched the photos app on his iPad, the photos wer already there.

2:43PM:Since only the last 1,000 photos are saved with Photo Stream, users can drag any photos they want to keep permanently into an album.

2:44PM:Last up... iTunes in the Cloud!!

2:45PM:This is what we've all been waiting for — music purchased in iTunes will automatically be synced to all devices.

2:46PM:Songs you've already purchased pre-iTunes in the Cloud can be downloaded on other devices for free.

2:46PM:For future purchases, once this feature is enabled, a song purchased on one device will be pushed to all devices.

2:47PM:Eddie Cue is back up to demo the service. Unless they throw us a curveball, it looks like music purchased outside of iTunes will not be supported by the service. We'll know for sure in a few minutes.

2:48PM:In the demo, it looks like they just snuck in a redesigned iPad music app.

2:49PM:The service is amazingly seamless. Buy a song on one device and it's available everywhere else immediately.

2:49PM:iTunes in the Cloud supports up to 10 devices.

2:50PM:WOW. Everything relating to iCloud, including iTunes in the cloud, is completely free!

2:52PM:Awesome — to set up iCloud, all you need to do is log in with your Apple ID. What's more, users get 5GB of free storage... and that doesn't include music/etc purchased through iTunes.

2:52PM:iTunes in the Cloud becomes available today for iOS 4.3 as a beta — the full release will launch with iOS 5 in the fall.

2:52PM:ONE MORE THING

2:53PM:iTunes in the Cloud is just for songs purchased from iTunes... but you might have music you got elsewhere.

2:54PM:These other songs can be synced to the cloud one time, and they will become available everywhere.

2:55PM:Rather than syncing, there is also an "iTiunes Match" application that will scan your library and match songs with versions available through iTunes. These songs will then become accessible just like iTunes purchases!

2:55PM:In addition, iTunes Match will upgrade all of those songs to 256 AAC.

2:56PM:iTunes Match service will be $24.99 per year.

2:56PM:That yearly fee will support up to 20,000 songs!

2:57PM:"If you don't think we're serious about this, you're wrong," Steve said. He's talking about the new data center in NC now.

2:58PM:"It's a pretty large place and it's full of expensive stuff."

2:58PM:This facility will manage all iCloud services.

2:58PM:It looks like that's it folks — thanks for tuning in!

We’re only a couple hours away from finding out, but a photo has been making the rounds depicting what some are claiming to be part of the enhanced notifications UI in iOS 5. As you can see the in the photo, Twitter mentions are displayed on a second bar below the status bar, much like how Apple displays tethering or background voice calling. The question is, if the photo is indeed real, does tapping on the status bar then bring you to a page with all of your unread notifications? Is there an Android style drop-down panel? TechCrunch, which originally published the photo, says at the very least it has been told the photo is the “right idea,” even if it is not authentic. We’ll know in under two hours and we’ll be covering WWDC 2011 live.

On Tuesday, CNN announced the availability of its mobile news application for the Android platform. The app provides quick access to CNN’s main news stories and features — complete with a picture-driven user interface — and closely resembles the news organization’s current iOS offering. Other features include free access to CNN Radio, breaking news notifications, and the option to share live photos and videos with CNN — a feature CNN refers to as “iReporter.” We’ve installed the CNN application on our T-Mobile G2x, and enjoy the robust feature set it offers. We also dig the customizable widget that is bundled with the app. CNN for Android requires Android 2.1 or higher and is available in the Android Market now.

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The brood over at PreCentral have managed to acquire a leaked copy of HP’s webOS 3.0 beta 1 software development kit (SDK). Why is this a good thing? Because contained within said SDK rests a TouchPad, webOS 3.0 emulator, of course. While emulators only provide 50% of the TouchPad story — the other half being hardware — it is useful to get a high-level overview of what user interface will look like. If you want to whet your appetite for this summers TouchPad release, hit the jump. There’s an eighteen minute video overview awaiting your scrutiny. Be sure to click through the read link as well for a host of screen grabs.

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Earlier today, Facebook released an update to its iOS client bearing version number 3.4. The new bits add a map view to Places check-ins, an improved News Feed, and a more intuitive Notification dashboard. Version 3.4 also allows users to unfriend stalkers, former significant others, or anyone else directly from their iPhone or iPod touch. The update is available immediately in the App Store, enjoy.

The rumor mill has gone back and forth regarding whether or not Microsoft’s next-generation operating system — Windows 8 — might include a tile UI similar to the “Metro UI” found in the company’s Windows Phone 7 platform. The coming operating system, which will seemingly be designed for tablets as much as it will be designed for desktop and laptop computers, will likely stray from Microsoft’s current Windows UI, but exactly how it might stray is unknown. Tech blog GeekSmack claims to have uncovered several hints in a very early build of Microsoft’s Windows 8 that points to the possibility of an alternate tile-based UI of some kind. References to an “Immersive shell,” “tiles,” a dock of some kind and a notification system all suggest that Microsoft is indeed cooking up a revamped tile-based UI for tablets. While it is not currently believed that the tile UI will be Windows 8′s main interface, a secondary UI for tablet devices is certainly plausible. Hit the break for a few more screen grabs of GeekSmack’s findings.

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A new report suggests Apple will unveil the next version of its mobile operating system at a media event early next month. German Apple enthusiast blog Macerkopf.de cites a trusted source in claiming that Apple will reveal iOS 5 and new MobileMe features in early April. The timing of the rumor is in line with Apple’s announcements in years past; Apple held its iOS 4 event last year on April 8th. Among the more anticipated changes expected in iOS 5 is a completely revamped notification system. We have discussed Apple’s notifications system several times on BGR, and we even said iOS notifications were “as disruptive as notifications on a mobile device can possibly be.” Apple is well aware of the problem, and the company hired Rich Dellinger last year — the man widely regarded as being responsible for the fantastic notification system found on HP’s webOS platform. Apple has not yet confirmed any details surrounding the next version of iOS or an event next month.

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Simply put, Apple’s iOS notification system is horrible. Terrible. In fact, in our opinion it’s the worst smartphone notification system on the planet. We’ve written as much in the past on numerous occasions, and we’ll continue to harp on the issue until Apple fixes the problem. Of course many iOS users share our opinion, and some developers have even gone as far as offering up their own solutions. One such developer is Peter Hajas, who built MobileNotifier for iPhone and iPod touch users with jailbroken devices. MobileNotifier is a complete rewrite of Apple’s system, and it certainly represents a far superior solution compared to the current official implementation. Apple is expected by many to unveil a revamped notification system this summer when it reveals features from the next major revision of its mobile platform, iOS 5. The solution is expected to work in a similar fashion to MobileNotifier, though the UI will likely be more elegant and better integrated in the OS. Hit the break for a video demo and a pair of screen shots.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

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