With the introduction of iOS 5 and iCloud, it is possible to use your iPhone and iPad without owning a Mac or PC. In iOS 5, a number of features are introduced to fulfill the “Post PC” era of iDevices.

Activate from within device. Instead of having to plug your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad into an iTunes running Mac or PC to activate the device, iOS 5 allows you to activate directly from within the device.

OTA (Over-The-Air) Software Update. OTA Software Update will make it possible to update iOS system software wirelessly. When Apple release a new update let say iOS 5.1, just go to Settings > Software Update to upgrade. No iTunes and Mac/PC required. Apple implements delta update mechanism. Instead of the whole iOS, you only download what’s changed, which significantly reduced the size of the update.

Purchased apps, music and books in the cloud. Apps, music and books that you purchased from the iTunes store are now in iCloud. You can re-download them into your iDevice without relying on iTunes backup.

Backup to iCloud. When you enable backup to iCloud, it backs up daily over Wi-Fi your photos and video in the camera roll, device settings, app data, home screen and app organization, ringtones and text/MMS messages. This backup can be used to restore your phone data and settings such as when changing a new phone.

Reminders is a useful new todo app in iOS 5 with its location aware alerts and iCloud support. You can view your reminders on all iOS devices and on Mac OS X Lion.

There is no Reminders app for OS X Lion. Instead Apple has taken the todo lists found inside the old iCal and change it to be Reminders. It is not so obvious at first as Reminders by default is not shown on iCal’s main window.

In order to view the same Reminders as in your iOS devices, you need to enable iCloud on OS X Lion. This feature is not available on OS X Snow Leopard as OS X Lion is the minimum OS X for iCloud.

Next, under System Preferences->iCloud, check the “Calendars” to enable iCloud sync. And wait for a moment for the sync to complete.

To view Reminders on iCal, select from menu View->View Reminders or toggle Reminders on/off using Option Command T. Reminders will appear as a right side pane on the main iCal window.

To create a reminder, right click on the Reminders pane for a popup menu and select “New Reminder”. Or press the Command-K key. Check off reminder by clicking on the checkbox. Command-Delete to remove reminder. And double click on a reminder to bring up the edit window.

Find My Friends is a showcase of the kind of app/service that can be provided by iCloud. Either it is to keep track of your family or to share your location temporarily with your friends, Find My Friends is the ultimate for a simple to use location tracking app. Find My Friends is a free app and requires iCloud account.

Find My Friends at App Store

Apple introduced its chat service iMessage with the launch of iOS 5. iMessage is a text messaging chat similar to internet messaging AIM, ICQ, Facebook chat or the ever popular WhatsApp app. The difference is iMessage is integrated into the Messages app which is used for SMS/MMS.

When you send a text message, the message app will check if the recipient is using iOS 5 with iMessage enabled. If yes your text will be send out via iMessage. If not the text will be send out using regular SMS via telco. iMessage is a free service, and this could potentially saves you some telco SMS charges.

When you upgraded to iOS 5, iMessage is enabled when you enable iCloud. To check, open the Settings app and look for Messages and make sure the switch is turned on.

You can find out if your text will be send out using iMessage or SMS while composing your text. iMessage text will be blue in color and the text entry field will display “iMessage”. For SMS message, the text is green in color and the text entry field will display “Text Message”.

iMessage is not limited to iPhone, the Message app is also available on iPad and iPod touch. When you use the Message app on iPad or iPod touch, you need to enter the recipient’s email address when composing a text. Phone number will not work.

In order to receive iMessage from someone using iPad or iPod touch, you need to setup an email address for your iMessage. Under Settings>Messages, tap the “Receive At”.

Select to enable to use Apple ID for iMessage. This will add the email address for your Apple ID as an address for “You can be reached for messages at”. Your friends can then iMessage you using the email address.

With iMessage, Apple merged the traditional telco SMS and Internet chat within the same Message app. A brilliant move that brings cost saving benefit and convenience to iOS users.

Apple probably just had its greatest software updates in its history. For the past 2 days, Apple software relating to iOS 5 and iCloud are updated, together with few new apps. Here are the list:

• iOS 5
• OS X Lion 10.7.2
• OS X Lion Recovery Update
• iCloud & iCloud.com website (new)
• Safari 5.1.1
• iTunes 10.5
• Apple TV 4.4
• Updates to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iOS
• Updates to Remote, iMovie, Find My iPhone for iOS
• iPhoto 9.2
• Aperture 3.2
• iCloud Control Panel for Windows (new)
• Cards app for iOS (new)
• iTunes Movie Trailers app for iOS  (new, US only)
• Find my Friends app for iOS (new)
• AirPort Setup utility app for iOS (new)
• XCode 4.2

Apple has released iOS 5 which includes new Notification Center, iCloud support, iMessage, Newsstand, Twitter integration and more than 200 features. iOS 5 requires iTunes 10.5 for the upgrade and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2 and third & fourth generation iPod touch.

Together with the launch of iCloud and iOS 5, Apple updates OS X Lion to 10.7.2 which has support for iCloud. OS X 10.7.2 comes with Safari 5.1.1 which includes improved JavaScript performance.

Apple iOS homepage

OS X Lion 10.7.2 Support Article

Apple will release later today iOS 5, iCloud and OS X Lion 10.7.2 with iCloud support. Without a doubt, iCloud is the core feature of these releases. So what is iCloud? You might have read many things about it. This is a concise layman’s guide to what is iCloud.

“Cloud computing” is a buzz term used by tech geeks to describe computing services provided over the Internet. iCloud is Apple’s service to provide you ways to store and sync your data on the Internet. Once your data is in iCloud, you can access them via Internet on Mac or any iOS devices.

iCloud can be loosely view as an upgrade of MobileMe. However iCloud is so much more than just MobileMe. Apple integrates iCloud tightly with iOS 5 and OS X Lion, to give users seamless data sync across Apple devices. For developers, iCloud is also a data store and sync platform with API to allow development of apps and services.

Apple off course is leading the pack with a number of native apps riding on iCloud. You can store your mail, calendar, contacts, notes, reminders, Safari bookmarks on iCloud and access them from multiple Mac or iOS devices. “Find My iPhone” is one of the earlier MobileMe app ported to iCloud. You can find out your device’s location with this app, remotely lock or even wipe the data of the device. Apple is also launching a new “Find My Friends” app that allows you to check out your friends location.

PhotoStream is another new service in iOS 5 from Apple riding on top of iCloud. PhotoStream will sync your photos in iOS devices’ camera roll to the iCloud, so that you can view them from multiple iOS devices and also from AppleTV. iWork is the first major productivity apps that can store your documents in iCloud. So you can compose your Keynote file on the Mac, and pop over to show the presentation using your iPhone.

iCloud is also an internet website at iCloud.com. This website as shown above allows you to access your iCloud data over a browser. Essential when you do not have an iDevice with you.

Apple is also storing the music, apps, books that you purchased on iTunes App Store on iCloud. If your music and books are all from iTunes App Store, you can essentially bypass iTunes app on the desktop and access those content from iCloud. You can now choose not to use iTunes desktop app. iOS 5 is the first iOS that can be operated without first plugging into your Mac/PC and iTunes.

For many years, iTunes app on your Mac/PC is considered the hub where you store your iTunes data, and sync the data over to your iOS devices. iCloud is poised to take over this place to be the central hub for these data.

Apple will be launching iTunes Match end October for US. This subscription based iCloud service will match your iTunes library, allowing you to convert your private music collection over to iCloud, and download them as and when needed over iCloud for listening.

With an API opens to third party developers, we expect more and more apps and services will be build on top of iCloud.

Apple has released iTunes 10.5 ahead of tomorrow’s iOS 5 and iCloud launch. iTunes 10.5 is required for the upgrade to iOS 5. Include in this new release is also the ability to sync your iOS 5 devices wireless to iTunes. Missing in iTunes 10.5 is iTunes Match, which is part of iCloud. Apple has mentioned in its iPhone 4S launch that iTunes Match will be released end October. Guess we will receive another iTunes update for the launch of iTunes Match.

Apple has released a beta for its iTunes Match service for its developers in United States. iTunes Match is a service that scans your music in your iTunes library, and makes the same music available on iCloud so that you can access your music anywhere, anytime on iOS devices or computer.

iTunes Match is expected to launch together as part of iCloud when the service is live later this year. Subscription is $24.99 per year.

Apple has opened the MobileMe to iCloud transition feature to its developers for testing its iCloud service.  With its release, we now have more info on what to expect for MobileMe users who are migrating to iCloud when it launches later this year.

Even though some apps in iCloud might look familiar to MobileMe users, keep in mind that MobileMe and iCloud are two separate services. A number of MobileMe features are being axed from iCloud.

• Apple has confirmed that MobileMe service will continue until June 30, 2012 when MobileMe shuts down.
• iCloud will be free for the first 5GB of storage. Additional 10GB is at $20/year. Additional 20GB is at $40/year and additional 50GB is at $100/year.
• iCloud requires iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion.
• MobileMe account will automatically convert to 20GB plan without the $40 charges until June 30, 2012. On June 30, 2012,  the recurring bill of $40/year will be charged, or there is an option to downgrade to the free plan.
• During the transition, Apple will move your Mail, Contacts & Calendars data from MobileMe to iCloud.
• MobileMe users can continue to use iWeb, iDisk and Photo Gallery until June 30, 2012. These features are not in iCloud.
• MobileMe’s iWeb which is web publishing has no equivalent in iCloud.
• MobileMe’s iDisk will be ‘replaced’ by iCloud’s Document in the Cloud, emphasize more on transparently syncing app data and documents to the cloud, rather than accessing the folder and files directly.
• There is no exact equivalent to MobileMe’s Photo Gallery in iCloud. Instead iCloud’s Photo Stream is a new way for you to present your photos on your iOS/Mac devices in the cloud.
• The MobileMe data sync feature will be axed in iCloud. MobileMe data sync allows you to sync to MobileMe Mac Dashboard widgets, Dock items, Keychains and Mail accounts/signatures/rules/smart boxes/preferences.