Updates over the air

Ok, I finally bit the bullet and allowed my iPhone 3GS and iPad 2 to update to iOS 5.1.1 over iCloud.  What is interesting is that the way Apple has engineered the experience is that you first see a Medalion over the Settings App.  So, out of curiosity you open the Settings App and discover that the General Settings has the number one next to the name.  Upon clicking on General you will see a number one next to the "Software Update" line.  Clicking on this will bring you to the Software Update page and a button that says Update Now.  You will also notice that the update has already been downloaded and the size is displayed.  When you click on the Update Now button, the system will go through the normal process of checking the download, unpacking the download, and then installing the download.  A few minutes later and it is ready to go.  Both devices went without a hitch.

You might be wondering why I haven't tried this before.  It's because I have always been afraid of loosing connection while the download is happening and not being able to recover.  That is why I have always done the iTunes route, which by the way I do not feel is intrusive.  I will still use the Mac Mini to run iTunes as a backup plan.  I don't plan on using iCloud to do my backups as my devices all have different loads of music, apps, etc.  In fact, my iPhone is 16GB and my iPad is 64GB.  The iPad would definately not fit on the iPhone.  I am waiting for the iPhone "5" or whatever they are going to call it to come out and then I will upgrade.  I have the old grandfathered unlimited data and I refuse to give that up.  Yep, I still use ATandT for cell phone service.  It's not as good as Cingular was but I have had the account for many years and some good bennies to boot.