Next up is Newsstand, an iBooks-like one-stop shop for newspapers and magazines that offers automatic background downloading of new content -- pick up your device and the latest issue is already available offline. Twitter integration figures prominently into the new release, too, with your login baked right into system settings; inline picture uploads are available from apps like Camera and Photos, and additional integration points can be found in Safari, YouTube, and Maps. Contact integration allows you to pull Twitter avatars for your local contact list.

Moving onto web-centric features, Reader and Reading List are new features for automatically reformatting web pages for better mobile viewing and for collecting them for later use -- just like Read It Later. Safari now features tabbed browsing, which means you don't need to head over to a separate screen to see the pages you've got open.

Apple's now jumped into the to-do list game with the introduction of Reminders, which lets you create notes and lists and schedule them to bother you either at a given date a time or -- get this -- when you reach a particular location.

Mail gains rich text editing, automatic indentations, flags, and full-text search. On the iPad, you'll also get a gesture for going straight to your inbox. Need to know what that nine-syllable word your friend just sent you means? A dictionary is now baked into the platform and it's available everywhere. On the iPad, you get a new split keyboard if you prefer typing with your thumbs -- definitely more convenient if you're holding the tablet with your hands.

As rumored, iOS 5 goes PC-free from start to finish: take your device out of the box and you can activate it without needing to plug into iTunes. Software updates now flow over the air, too, which basically takes your desktop connection out of the equation altogether if you want it to -- and they're far smaller because Apple's only pushing what has changed since the last release. No need to worry about 500MB downloads, it would seem.

And here's the doozy: iMessage, a realtime messaging system for iOS devices a la BlackBerry Messenger. As you might imagine, it's not text-only -- you can send photos, video, and contacts, and it works over both 3G and Wi-Fi connections. You can also establish messaging groups and request both delivery receipts and read receipts. A nod to the corporate world, Apple's promising secure encryption for this system.