Two of the iPhone's staple apps get modest upgrades in iOS 5. Mail gains the ability to flag messages, rich-text formatting, rearranging addresses in the headers by drag-and-dropping, searching the full-text of an email, and adding and deleting mailboxes.

Safari, meanwhile, adds Reading List, to let you quickly track articles and pages you want to read (and, with iCloud, sync them between devices); full tabbed browsing on the iPad; and the same Safari Reader function that exists on the desktop version already, which lets you remove the formatting of a page to get to just the important part--the content. Apple's also promised improved performance for the iOS browser.

Perhaps most important, iOS 5 will finally cut the cord--to use Apple's turn of phrase--between the company's mobile devices and the personal computer. No longer will you need to plug an iOS device into iTunes to start using it--now you can set up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from the device itself. Plus, you'll be able to download iOS software updates over the air, and even backup your device to iCloud, without any need for syncing.