Upgrading my iPhone to iOS5

Well, iOS5 is here and there are stories galore doing the rounds on the Internet at the moment about the various successes and failures of the upgrade.

I waited for about a week to upgrade simply as I figured everyone else would try the first day or two after it was made available, for all the various phone and iPad devices it works on.

So, first big hurdle is having to update iTunes (again) to the recent version (10.5), which required a PC re-start – the first of how many tonight I wonder … ?

  • 15 minutes so far!

Exciting weekend entertainment ... iOS5 update! #sadlife on Twitpic Exciting weekend entertainment … iOS5 update! #sadlife

Connecting the iPhone is always a scary proposition (an update in the past went spectacularly wrong a year or so back), especially with such a big upgrade about to happen (or not). The usual ‘accept the new T&Cs or doom yourself to always being behind the upgrade cycle’ form pops up after the re-start, then ‘it’ begins. Oh wait, I need to update some apps first, so I have to wait before I can connect the phone to start the process we’re here for …

  • going on for 30+ minutes so far …

And then the message to make you quake in your boots …

iOS5 here we go (after restart) ... #stillsad on Twitpic
iOS5 here we go (after restart) … #stillsad

iOS5 progress ... #ComeOn #HurryUp  on Twitpic
iOS5 progress … #ComeOn #HurryUp

  • 62 minutes after starting I’ve at least finished downloading the 774mb upgrade file(s) from Apple, now the long wait while the phone is backed up and new software installed.
  • 85 minutes in and the restore begins …

So, what is the iOS5 going to give me, what are these 200+ new features (obviously not Siri, that’s the 4S phone only):

#restore ... please! on Twitpic
#restore … please!

Finally, after about 100+ minutes the phone is listed in iTunes again, and then the re-install of all the apps, photos, music, videos, etc begins … I feel a sense of achievement in getting this far without any trouble.

However, all was not well during the restore phase – the phone was not recognised after the update and I had to disconnect and reconnect it several times before it was recognised and the restore of photos, music, etc went ahead. Yes, I did a little dance when it started working again (2 hours now … and counting)!

But wait, what’s this …

[blackbirdpie id=”127839149049921538″]

OK, I adjusted the settings on the phone to sync to the PC and it finished about 3 minutes later.

So, all in all, it took 2 hours 15 minutes from start to finish .. and I’ve got to re-order my apps as there are some new ones that have forced my carefully planned apps/pages all over the place … and I’ve some new features to learn too.

Right … now for the iPod Touch and then the iPad … maybe not tonight!

 Just to keep me entertained during the upgrade, I read these posts/stories about the horrors that others had encountered when upgrading … silly me!