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iOS 5 Shows Promising, New Features – But Are Most of Them Android Knockoffs?

With the iPhone 5 on its way, Apple is staking much of its feature upgrades on software, with iOS 5 and iCloud taking center stage. But as developers and tech enthusiasts peel back the wrappings from iOS 5, are they discovering anything more than just Android pastiche?
As we move ever closer to the announcement of the iPhone 5 in September, iOS 5 is just beginning to come into focus from a feature standpoint. Apple has laid out the full beta version, giving developers and iPhone users the opportunity to explore what it will offer vis a vis the iPhone 5 — the flagship device that will meld hardware with iOS software. BGR has published a comprehensive changelog for iOS 5 beta that is phenomenal — perhaps one of the finest pieces of information yet offered within the minutia of the iPhone 5 rumor mill, and definitely worth checking out.
But what iOS 5 beta is bearing out for the iPhone community is that, while it is indeed a significant leap forward from iOS 4, it feels particularly “familiar” and not all that original. This is because many of the landmark changes that are going to be ushered in with iOS 5 already appear in the Android operating systems.
In his widely-read article “Five Ways Apple Rips-Off Android with iOS 5,” PC World‘s Ian Paul quantitatively makes the case for how iOS 5 is a catch-up to Android operating system technologies. Paul comments that: “You might even call these new features magical or revolutionary, unless you’re an Android user, then you’d call them “stuff I’ve been using for years.” The latest additions to Apple’s mobile OS are probably a welcome relief for iPhone and iPad fans, but it’s hard to call iOS “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system” when Apple is playing catch up to Android.”
He claims that the notification center, social networking integration, OTA updates, a camera snap function for the volume button, and the use of the Apple ID to unify the new “Apple ecosystem” — all of which are seminal Android ideas.
But Ian’s Paul’s piece is a little bit dated. Just this week, the iPhone 5 rumor mill has also been talking about the discovery of what looks to be Nuance-powered voice recognition that could very well debut on the next  iPhone. It will indeed be a welcome addition to the next device, but it too is predated by the same functionality found on Android phones. We have a report about voice recognition in iOS 5 that you can read here on the iPhone 5 News Ticker.
The same goes for NFC technology, which may or may not make its way onto the iPhone 5. Android has dabbled in that, too.

So, what’s to be made of this perspective that the crux of the iPhone 5 — which will be iOS 5, aka the “engine” of the device — is merely a pantomime of what Android has already been doing? To be sure, iPhone users want to feel as though they are getting a novel device with the iPhone 5; something that it truly unique and distinguished from all other smartphones on the market. Yet, none of the most coveted features — including the ones mentioned above in iOS 5 — are in fact new, groundbreaking ideas that no one else has tried. This week, we’ve also been talking about a larger screen for the iPhone 5. Even if our dreams come true and the iPhone 5 sports a bigger screen, it will only be a new feature as far as iPhone designs go; for Android, it’s been there, done that. And yet, in spite of this revelation, the tech world (and Apple as well, apparently) expects the iPhone 5 to overrun the smartphone market; 2011 — and 2012 for that matter — are being characterized as an iPhone 5 landslide.
How is it that Apple could roll out an iPhone 5 that is essentially derivative of the best bits of the Android ranks, and still beat Android across the board?
The answer is rather singular: ignorance. And ignorance explains how this phenomenon could occur on two fronts. The first rash of ignorance comes from our side of the discussion — we, the self-proclaimed tech illuminati. (I’m hoping you’re cracking a wry smile right now.) It has been said here before and is worth noting again that the vast majority of consumers are not tech savvy enough to feel any degree of pride or shame over new features versus ripped-off features. Here cometh the second rash of ignorance, this time on the part of the unwashed masses; the average Joes: for the average consumer, features are either “really cool” or “really not all that cool,” and, while being first to market is typically of high value, Android as a superbrand clearly hasn’t capitalized on its own novel technology, since Apple may be poised to pilfer most of it and sell it to the public with the “really cool” Apple logo stuck to it.
Another thing to consider is that nothing is sacred in business, and particularly so in the technology sector. We all know that Bill Gates ripped off Steve Jobs when he rolled out Microsoft Windows. But there is also plenty of evidence that Jobs ripped off Xerox. It’s like a viscous circle, which is why Apple, Samgung, HTC, Nokia, et al are continuously suing one another. It’s entirely possible that Google will sue Apple over iOS 5 when it is released (remember — you read it here first). And if it comes to that, it’s assumable that Apple will even be ready for it. After all, they have to keep pace with Google in features.
The big question remains: what will iOS 5 offer us that is different from Android?
In the end, there may not be many new features that are completely unique and germane to the iPhone 5 only. But chances are, there is one facet to iOS 5 that will be completely different from the Android OS: it will work. It is well-chronicled that Android smartphones crash and offer the user more frustration than features. What Apple always consistently delivers is quality. So, even if in the end iOS 5 is derivative of Android, at least Apple will have built a better Android than Google themselves.