Apple on Monday announced that the next major version of iOS, set to ship this fall, will include over 200 new user features. During the keynote presentation at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Senior Vice President of iOS Engineering Scott Forstall demonstrated just 10 of those features, including overhauled notifications, BlackBerry-style messaging for all iOS devices, and the ability to use iPads and iPhones without needing to connect to a Mac or Windows PC.

Notifications, messaging, and cord cutting, oh my!

Forstall noted that over 100 billion push notifications have been sent to iOS devices since Apple introduced the ability in iOS 3. However, customers have longed for a better UI than Apple's modal, single-notification pop-up. iOS 5 changes all that with its Notification Center.

Swiping down from the status bar accesses the new, Android-like Notification Center. This central notification list includes your missed calls, voicemails, text messages, e-mail messages, Facebook updates, and any other push notifications. Current local weather is displayed at the top, and you can configure stock updates as well.

Furthermore, notifications no longer interrupt what you are doing when they arrive. "If you're playing a game and someone sends you an SMS, you get a little notification across the top to let you know," Forstall said. "If you keep playing your game, it'll automatically dismiss itself." If you want to handle the issue right away, though, tapping the notification will take you to the related app.

Apple is updating messaging to work across all iOS devices. While iPhones can send SMS and MMS messages to each other, iPads and iPod touches have so far been left out. However, Apple is adding a BlackBerry-style messaging system to iOS 5 called iMessage. This system will allow users to send text, photos, videos, and contact information from any device running iOS 5 to any other iOS 5 device.

Message content is pushed automatically from one device to another, fully encrypted. You can also use delivery and read receipts to make sure the message got to the recipient and verify it was read—these receipts will likely be as useful for parents as they will be for enterprise users. A real-time typing indicator makes the system useful for iChat-style instant messaging as well.

Customers are increasingly using an iPad or iPhone as their only computing device in the "post-PC" era, according to Forstall, so iOS 5 will introduce "PC Free." That's right, iOS 5 finally cuts the cord between your iPad or iPhone and you Mac or Windows machine. You will be able to activate iOS devices directly without connecting to iTunes. Software updates will also come OTA . Furthermore, iOS and app updates will be "deltas," which only download the changes and not the entire OS or app.

Forstall briefly mentioned that iOS 5 will allow syncing with iTunes content, such as movies, music, and more, via WiFi.

Seven other lucky features

Forstall also discussed and briefly demoed seven other features during his time on stage at Moscone West. A new app called Newsstand collects all of your magazine and newspaper subscriptions. New issues will update automatically in the background, so you'll always have the latest version automatically. Apple is adding a special section to the App Store which will allow users to browse and subscribe to magazines and newspapers from around the world.

Links to your Twitter account are now directly built into iOS 5. You'll be able to tweet content directly from certain built-in apps, like photos from Camera, links from Safari, or locations from Maps. You can list a Twitter name for contacts, and iOS will pull their Twitter avatar if you don't have a picture set for them.

Web browsing will gain new features in iOS 5. The Reader feature from Safari 5 is being added to both the iPad and iPhone, along with a new Reading List feature that syncs between devices, including Mac OS X and Windows desktops. These features are very similar to Instapaper and Read it Later, if you're familiar with those services.

Mobile Safari for iOS 5 adds true tabbed browsing, which should address the number one complaint about Mobile Safari.

Reminders is a new app to help you keep track of lists and other things you need "reminding" to do. It includes integration with your calendar alarms as well as geolocation data, for reminders that trigger when you're in a certain place. Reminders sync with iCal and Exchange.

iOS 5's camera will be enhanced with probably the biggest usability improvement ever: direct access to Camera.app from the lock screen and the ability to use the volume-up button to snap the shutter. Additional, iOS 5 will add optional gridlines for improved composition and an autofocus and autoexposure lock. Camera will also include some basic iPhoto-like editing such as auto-correct and red-eye removal.

Mail will gain rich text formatting, including bold, underline, and italic text, indent control, and more. E-mail addresses can now be dragged from one field to another. Spotlight searches now index complete text of all e-mails, and e-mails can be flagged for dealing with later.

For enterprise users, Mail now supports sending and receiving secure S/MIME attachments. Forstall also demoed an iOS-wide dictionary service that works with any app that uses iOS's text input.

Forstall noted there are over 50 million Game Center users (compared to 30 million for Xbox Live). Apple is making Game Center more social in iOS 5, adding photos, friends lists, and game recommendations. It will include better support for turn-based games, so developers won't have to maintain their own servers and systems (and perhaps could add a turn-based play option for games like Ticket to Ride).

Coming soon

More features mentioned but not discussed or demoed include: AirPlay mirroring to compatible displays, new multitasking gestures, alternate routes in Maps, improved FaceTime video quality, WiFi sync to iTunes, typing shortcuts, location-based weather updates, custom vibration patters, custom tones for voicemail, mail, and calendars, a new iPad music app, accessible input for mobility, improved offline support in Mail, and smart playlist sync from iTunes.

Developers can now take advantage of new APIs, such as GLKit, Storyboarding, NewsstandKit, CoreImage, customizable UI, improved PDF support, automatic reference counting (is this garbage collection?), new view animations, Page View Controller, access to LED flash, and more. A developer seed of iOS is available to all registered iOS developers starting today.

iOS is set to ship in the fall, and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touches.