Apple iOS 5 could Swap Tethered for Over-The-Air Updates

Posted on May 5 2011 - 5:20pm by Richard Sharp

Apple only released iOS 4.3.3 yesterday and attention has already turned back to the hotly anticipate iOS 5 which is likely to be unveiled at the world wide developer conference next month. If today’s rumours are true then iOS could be going truly mobile with updates rolling out over the air instead of using iTunes.

One of the most common gripes with iOS is the cumbersome updates that can take up to an hour to install via iTunes. It requires the user to attach their iPhone to their laptop and wait for the device to be updated before they can detach it and be on their merry way with the new features or more commonly bug fixes.

iOS 5 in the cloud

Apparently iOS 5 will allow users to update their iPhone or iPod touch over the air, possibly via the new cloud based service. This will probably mean that updates will be more frequent and smaller in size to reduce the amount of time required to download updates, this will be essential if users are to download updates on the fly.

At this stage it’s unclear whether all network carriers will enable the ‘over the air’ updates; Apple would certainly have to lop huge chunks off their iOS file size which stands at over 600mb on average. Many do feel that over the air updates are necessary, mainly to bring the iPhone inline with Android handsets and also to make the iPad a true standalone device, currently users have to update it using a PC which holds the tablet back from being a notebook replacement.

Do you think Apple should include wireless updates in iOS 5?

 

Via: 9to5mac

 

1 Comment so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. jedibozz May 14, 2011 at 6:04 pm - Reply

    I just want to see a one button toggle for Bluetooth, without the need to JB the phone.

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