It’s been a while since Apple has released a new iOS 5.x update, but today one has been made available. A relatively minor update, iOS 5.1.1 addresses a 2G/3G network problem on the new 3rd Gen iPad, bugs in AirPlay video playback, and other minor issues.
On our test iPhones and iPads, the update was under 50MB when updating from the device, but you can also update via iTunes. The update is available for compatible iPhones and iPod touch models, and all iPads.
Of all the apps on my iPad 2, the one I was probably most looking forward to trying on the new iPad was Air Display. This iOS utility from Avatron allows you to use the iPad (or iPhone, iPod touch if you’ve got a magnifying glass handy) as a second display for your Windows PC or Mac. On the iPad 2, that was all well and good – I’d use it for a PDF viewer or for iTunes to cut down on my primary monitor’s clutter – but with the iPad 3’s 2048×1536 resolution… the app’s utility seemed like it would, well, quadruple.
But last Friday, iPad launch day, there was no Air Display update. There wasn’t one Monday or Tuesday. Yesterday I found out why.
According to a post on the company’s blog, they got to work immediately on a Retina-friendly version of Air Display when the iPad 3 was announced, but after testing the update on an actual 3rd Gen iPad last week, the results were disappointing. They continued their work and now an update is currently under Apple review and should be available in the coming days.
You can still use the current version of Air Display on the new iPad, you’ll just get a lower resolution that’s not particularly pretty. Still, if using your iPad as a second display sounds good to you, give it a try (you can read my initial review of Air Display here, which I will update once the new version goes live). Avatron promises improved performance on older iPads with the upcoming update, too.
M. Nichols, Products Editor
Today Apple announced a new version of Mac OS X, Mountain Lion. The new operating system, OS X v10.8, will be available for purchase in the Mac App Store this summer with many iOS 5 features in tow.
Our iOS Software Center updates continue. We’ve added new pages to our center’s listing of recommended apps. New pages include:
- FTP / File Transfer iOS Apps
- Financial & Money Management iOS Apps
By the end of February, all categories will be populated with at least three apps we recommend. After all pages are all online, we’ll start adding new apps to each page to build a more complete listing of the best iPhone and iPad apps to help users sort through the clutter of hundreds of thousands of software titles available for iOS devices.
Submit your suggestions here.
Siri, as we all know, is currently available only on the iPhone 4S, and is labeled – in very unusual Apple fashion – as a beta feature, or work in progress. But Siri’s sequestration won’t last forever. So the question is: when will we see Siri on other iOS devices?
Well, it looks like it’s at least possible that the day when Siri expands beyond the iPhone 4S may come sooner than we thought. 9to5Mac.com is reporting that there’s new language buried in the Settings menu in the iOS 5.1 beta 3 that suggests Siri, at least in part, may be included in iOS 5.1 for the iPad.
“Sonny Dickson was looking through the iOS 5.1 beta 3 settings application on the iPad and discovered a new section in the keyboard menu called “About Privacy and Dictation.” When opened … the iPad provides the user with the standard legal literature and feature information for Siri Dictation… On the iPhone 4S, Apple does not have a specific menu related to “Dictation and Privacy” in the keyboard settings panel, [which] may weaken concerns that this new iPad Dictation menu is simply carried over code from the iPhone 4S.”
Perhaps only the dictation aspect of Siri’s functionality – the ability to convert speech to text for emails, notes, etc. – will be included, or perhaps iPad 2 users will get full-featured Siri. Or perhaps this is much ado about nothing.
Why No Siri on the iPad Already?
Some have speculated that the more powerful A5 chip in the iPhone 4S is required for Siri to work well, which is why it wasn’t included in the iPhone 4’s iOS 5 upgrade; others say that’s ridiculous, that Apple kept Siri 4S-only because other than the improved camera, there wasn’t much reason for iPhone 4 users to upgrade unless Siri was limited to the new model. We’ve got one foot and two hands in the latter camp, but if the former is true, there’s absolutely no technical reason Siri can’t come to the iPad 2 because it, too, has an A5 SoC with 512MB of RAM and a powerful GPU.
Siri on the iPad 3
Whether Siri is added to the iPad 2 or not, you can bet that it’ll be part of the iPad 3, which is widely expected to be announced later this quarter, likely March. And, of course, the iPhone 5 will have Siri, as we imagine all iOS devices going forward will.
