Besides unveiling the iPhone 4s during the big press event on October 4, Apple gave us a good look at the new features of iOS 5. Upgrades in iOS 5 fix many annoyances, from the way Safari displays some pages to the lack of on-board photo enhancements in the native camera app.

Here are a few of the changes in iOS 5:

Notifications

One of the most annoying things about iPhone and iPad is that you can be right in the middle of reading an article or e-book and a text message or calendar notification will pop up in the middle of your screen, completely interrupting your though proces

iOS 5 sports a Notification Center where you can customize which notifications you want to see immediately. Instead of popping up in the middle of the screen, notifications now appear at the top—out of the way of your gaming, reading or video-watching.

Free Text Messages for iPad and iPod Touch

Sure, we have been using third-party apps to send text messages from iPad and iPod touch for a year or more now. However, most third-party apps are clunky in comparison to the native iPhone messaging app. Now, all iOS 5 devices will have the message center and the ability to sync messages between devices. Send photos, videos or text—all for free.

Reminders

Most of us use our calendars to remember special events, but Apple has created a new Reminder system to help us make grocery lists and remember special occasions and events. The reminder system is touted as integrating seamlessly with iCal, so maybe our reminders will appear on our Outlook calendars, too.

Safari

Some webpages are just too small or cluttered to read well on iPhone. There are third-party apps like Instapaper that make these webpages easier to read, but in iOS 5, Safari can fix this problem for us in one simple click. Besides the easier reading, the new version of Safari includes a reading list alongside your bookmarks, and tabbed browsing.

PC Free

This feature alone is worth upgrading to iPhone 5. Software updates will no longer require connecting to iTunes. With iCloud integration, you no longer need to back up your phone constantly—it is done for you. The fear of losing all of your data at once is over… at least in theory. We will need to play with this feature ourselves before we will believe it works as magically as Apple is saying.

Other Features

iOS 5 has several other features upgrades too. Expect Twitter integration, an iCloud email account, an easier-to-access calendar, native photo editing capability and WiFi sync for between your computer and iOS device. iPad users have added multitasking gestures. AirPlay now allows you to share your iOS screen wirelessly with another computer, making the iPad an invaluable resource for business presentations.

Overall, iOS 5 offers more improvements than iPhone 4s. Unless you are dying for a faster processor and AI voice controls, it is probably most economical to just upgrade your iPhone 4 to iOS 5 and wait for next year’s iPhone 5.