Exciting features we expect in the iOS 5 before its launch this fall

Apple needs to immediately add the much-awaited voice command feature with its iOS platform. Apple recently took over the company behind Siri, a virtual personal assistant app and reportedly had talks with Nuance, a leading speech application developer. The developments have intensified the speculation that Apple will be rolling out an amazing voice command feature for its iOS 5 when it is ready for official release.

Apple should integrate a cutting edge notification facility on its iOS platform instead of the conventional tedious little blue boxes. Notification on e-mails, texts, friend requests and others should be perfect on its next gen iOS update. There are reports that Apple has hired the hacker behind MobileNotifier to design an enhanced notification center for its iOS update.

Apple is yet to roll out an official push e-mail service on its iDevices. Yahoo has been successfully going with its push-email app for iOS since iPhone’s birth in 2007. When competing mobile OS platforms like webOS offer enhanced push-email options, Apple has not yet launched a similar service.

Needless to say, Apple’s lockscreen looks quite unexciting. You can add a clock at the top and some effects on iOS lockscreen. However, Cydia store has some amazing lockscreen features for Apple iOS devices. The Cydia iOS lockscreen avails live status of weather, memory card, updates on email and social media.

Apple included a better Home Sharing Plus facility on its iOS 4.3 update for streaming iTunes content from a Mac computer on the same network. The facility has been working magnificently. However, some glitches have been reported with the iOS 4.3’s Home Sharing Plus. You may not continue to watch a movie that you paused in the middle. The movie will start from the beginning when you come back to watch it after a while. So there should be a superior Home Sharing facility on iOS 5.

Google Andorid OS offers a facility to add Facebook contacts on the smartphone or tablet’s Contacts app. The feature helps users enjoy quick access to Facebook contacts, birthday alerts and a facility to sync the Facebook profile images of your friends with your phone. Apple should launch a similar feature on its upcoming iOS update.

Swipe Effects are meant for a nice look of your iOS device. Swipe Effects will show your iPhone or iPad apps revolving with every screen change. While your friends swipe your iDevice’s screen, they will be excited to see your apps spinning with the screen changes. Barrel is a Cydia alternative for the features of Swipe Effects on a jailbroken iOS device.

So, that sums up what we'd love to see on the iOS 5. Now, time to keep our fingers crossed and hope that Apple delivers all we need and a little more in the next iteration of the now legendary iOS.