The wait seemed eternal but we are getting reports that Apple has finally started rolling out iOS 5 – its eagerly-awaited next generation mobile operating system.

Apple had given us sneak peak of iOS 5 at WWDC 2011 Keynote, which includes more than 200 features for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users such as revamped Notification system with Notification Center, iMessage, PC Free, Wi-Fi Sync, Newsstand, Reminders, deep Twitter integration and lots more.

According to the release notes iOS 5 includes the large list of new features which we will update shortly.

If you can’t live without a jailbroken iPhone then it would be prudent to wait for iPhone Dev Team to release the latest jailbreak tools for iOS 5. You can read our post, which gives the latest status update on jailbreaking iOS 5.

But if you don’t care about jailbreaking or unlocking your iPhone then we recommend you to follow the following steps to install iOS 5 Software Update:

• Please check our tips (follow this link) to ensure you’re ready for iOS 5 software update.
• Assuming that your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is connected to your computer and you have gone through our checklist and ready for the software update, click the “Check for Update” button from the device summary page in iTunes. If your iPhone or iPod Touch is compatible with iOS 5, iTunes will tell you that an update is available for download and will guide you through the installation.
• Please note that the entire process of downloading the update and installing it is a time consuming process, so please be patient.
• After you’ve successfully upgraded to iOS 5, you can checkout all the new features listed here.

Update 1:

According to the release notes, this update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

• Notifications
• Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Centre
• New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
• View notifications from lock screen
• Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
• iMessage
• Send and receive unlimited text, photo and video messages with other iOS 5 users
• Track messages with delivery and read receipts
• Group messaging and secure encryption
• Works over mobile networks and Wi-Fi*
• Newsstand
• Automatically organises magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
• Displays the cover of the latest issue
• Background downloads of new issues
• Reminders for managing to-do lists
• Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
• Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
• Built-in support for Twitter
• Sign in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
• Add location to any tweet
• View Twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
• Camera improvements for devices with cameras
• Double-click the Home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
• Volume Up button to take a picture
• Optional grid lines to line up shots
• Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
• Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
• Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure; iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock

• Photo improvements for devices with cameras
• Crop and rotate
• Red-eye removal
• One-tap enhance
• Organise photos into albums
• Mail improvements
• Format text using bold, italic or underlined fonts
• Indentation control
• Drag to rearrange names in address fields
• Flag messages
• Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
• Customise mail alert sounds
• S/MIME
• Calendar improvements
• Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
• Tap to create an event
• View and add event attachments
• Game Center improvements
• Use personal photos for your Game Center account
• Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
• Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
• Discover new games with custom game recommendations
• AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
• Multitasking Gestures for iPad
• Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
• Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
• Swipe left or right to switch between apps

• On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
• Software updates available over the air without tethering
• iCloud support
• iTunes in the Cloud
• Photo Stream
• Documents in the Cloud
• Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
• Backup
• Contacts, Calendar and Mail
• Find My iPhone

• Redesigned Music app for iPad

• Hourly weather forecast
• Real-time stock quotes
• Wireless sync to iTunes
• Keyboard improvements
• Split keyboard for iPad
• Improved auto-correction accuracy
• Improved Chinese and Japanese input
• New Emoji keyboard
• Personal dictionary for auto-correction
• Optionally create keyboard shortcuts for frequently used words
• Accessibility improvements

• Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
• Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
• New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
• Option to speak a selection of text
• Custom element labelling for VoiceOver

• Exchange ActiveSync improvements
• Wirelessly sync tasks
• Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
• Improved offline support
• Save a new contact from a GAL service
• More than 1,500 new developer APIs
• Bug fixes

Update 2:

We’re hearing reports that the download speeds have dropped significantly, probably due to a surge in traffic. Hold on folks, it looks like the ride is going to be rough.

Update 3:

Here are the direct download links for iOS 5 for the supported devices:

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 4 CDMA
• iPad
• iPad 2 WiFi
• iPad 2 3G GSM
• iPad 2 3G CDMA
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• Apple TV 2

Update 4:

Users are continuing to report slow download speeds. It’s quite fast initially then it just crawls.

Update 5:

It looks like users are now getting “There was a problem download software ….” error message. It looks like Apple servers are really feeling the brunt of the surge in traffic.

Update 6:

If the download speeds have dropped, cancel the download and try updating your iOS device again rather than waiting, it seems to be fast next time round. It looks like Apple may have added some additional servers to handle the load.

Update 7:

Apple has also released Mac OS X 10.7.2 with iCloud support and Lion recovery update.

Update 8:

Apple has launched iCloud, Migration for MobileMe Services also goes live

Update 9:

If you’re getting error 3200, after the software is extracted, please ensure that your iOS device is connected directly to the computer and not via a USB hub. It seems to have helped solved the issue for Daniel. Thanks Daniel for the tip!

Update 10:

Good new! iOS 5 Can Be Jailbroken Using Redsn0w And Sn0wbreeze

Update 11:

Hope you have gone through our checklist here to get ready for iOS 5 update. For example: it is important that you’ve upgraded to iTunes 10.5.

Update 12:

Some readers are reporting that putting the iOS device in AirPlane mode seems to fix error 3200.

Update 13:

Some users are saying that it worked after trying multiple times. That’s going to be frustrating. It is not clear if it is due to load on Apple’s server or unique to user’s setup, but quite a few users are facing the issue.

Update 14: 

Possible solutions to resolve the 3200 error:

• Please ensure that your iOS device is connected directly to the computer and not via a USB hub. It seems to have helped solved the issue for Daniel. Thanks Daniel for the tip!
• Please use the original USB cable that came with your iOS device rather than using cable from third-party accessory manufacturer. It seems to have solve the problem for Karsten. Thanks Karsten!
• Some readers are reporting that putting the iOS device in AirPlane mode seems to fix error 3200.
• It is possible that the reason for the issue is due to load on Apple’s server, so keep trying. Some users are saying that it worked after trying multiple times.
• Try after sometime, hopefully by that time the load would have reduced.
• Uninstalling the FreeSync app fixed the issue for Eugene. Thanks Eugene for sharing!

It looks like the error is due to the load on Apple’s servers, which means you have two options:

• Try after sometime, hopefully by that time the load would have reduced.
• Keep trying, it will eventually work

Update 16:

How to jailbreak iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS running iOS 5 using Redsn0w

Update 17:

Apple TV Software Update 4.4 (iOS 5) Adds AirPlay Mirroring, Photo Stream, NHL, WSJ

Please don’t forget to tell us how it goes.