Hello Siri.

The talking heads and the industry obviously have totally missed the point - the really new stuff has nothing to do with hardware (who cares about bigger screen and 20MP pictures and that it does laundry) but I am particularly amazed by the new voice assistant called Siri. It's an enormous game changer IMHO.

(reproduced from venturebeat)
iOS 5 available for all iPhone users October 12 with over 200 new features
October 4, 2011 | Meghan Kelly

Apple announced today it’s iOS 5 update will be available for download on October 12th.

Today’s Apple event had little by way of new features available on the iOS 5, but did recap what we can expect next Wednesday when we all plug into our iTunes.

According to Scott Forstall, Apple’s  senior vice president of iOS Software, who took the stage to talk iOS, the new release has over 200 new features to offer. Here are the top ten touted so far:

Better Notifications: These will be stored in the notification center, which can be accessed by swiping your figure downward on the iPhone screen. The point is to make notifications less like the interrupting cow in your knock knock joke.

iMessage: The new messaging feature allows iOS users to communicate over 3G and Wi-Fi with any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. You will be able to send photos, video, receive message delivery and read receipts, and see when others are typing. iMessages are synced to all of your devices, so you can pick up your conversation where you left off. Apple also promises your messages will be encrypted end-to-end for security.

Reminders: For the forgetful person in your life, reminders will alert people to the simple things such as, “Pick up your dry cleaning,” or, “Your mother-in-law has been at the airport for an hour, prepare to sleep on the couch.” You can also set up a geofence around an area, that will set off a reminder once you leave that space.

Twitter Integration: Forstall said, ““We have integrated Twitter deeply into the OS. We have integrated Twitter into many of the built-in apps.” You only have to log in to Twitter once for you to use it across the built-in iOS 5 apps. You can share websites from the Safari browser, YouTube videos, photos and more.

Newsstand: All of your favorite news subscriptions, such as the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Allure are aggregated into your own news stand. It can be found on the you home screen. While you’re going about your business, Newsstand continues to download new content from your subscriptions.

Camera: When you need to whip out your camera and grab that fleeting shot of the seagull in front of the setting sun, you don’t want to wait to unlock your phone and access the camera. Apple’s answer to that is a shortcut in iOS 5 that doesn’t require you to enter a lock code. iOS 5 will also support auto focusing and exposure, all you have to do is put your figure on your focal point. And we finally receive editing options on the camera including red eye removal.

Game Center: We’re all about content discovery lately, and gaming won’t escape. iOS 5 will put in place game and friend discovery for its over 67 million people using the feature. A sequel to Infinity Blade by Epic Games is also coming out, made specifically for the announced iPhone 4S, which will come preloaded with iOS 5.

New Safari: Forstall says, “”This next feature is one of my favorite: Tab browsing.” Tabbed browsing is just as it sounds, a way to switch between pages you’re reading simultaneously. If you don’t have time to read a page, you can now “save” that page for later in the Reader section.

Mail: The mail app becomes more like a functioning e-mail inbox! iOS 5 allows you to flag messages, search your whole inbox and write e-mail with rich text.

PC Free: Cast off the chains tying you to your computer! The update will allow for wireless updating.

Look out for the update next week.