Some people asked, so here are the instructions.
What you’ll need:
-Apple Developer Account ($99/year).
-An iDevice (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
-A Windows Machine
If you happen to be a close friend who’s reading this, I might be able to help you with step 1 above. Ask nicely.
How to do it:
First you’ll need to install a copy of iTunes 10.5 for windows. You’d think this would be available on the main download page from Apple like the Mac software, but it’s not. Instead, head over to the iCloud section and find it at https://developer.apple.com/icloud/downloads/ under Windows downloads. While you’re there, grab the iCloud control panel too.
Install iTunes 10.5, connect your device and grab your Device ID. You’ll need it to provision your device in the iOS Provisioning portal on the Apple developer site. Once you have it, go ahead and add your device at http://developer.apple.com/ios/manage/devices/index.action.
Sync your device.
Next, download the beta code from http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action#betadownloads
Once downloaded, on windows, you’ll need to extract it. The way to do this on Windows is to get TransMac. (15 day trial). Simply open the downloaded file, click on it within TransMac and drag it to your desktop. Once extracted, it’ll take a few minutes, head back over to iTunes and click on the summary page for your device.
Hold shift down and click “Restore”. This will open up a prompt for the file you just extracted. Select the file and press submit.
Then walk away and cross your fingers (or hold your thumb) while waiting for your device to restore to iOS5. Once done, sync your music, etc and you’re done.
If you’d like to sync your Photo Stream to your Pictures folder on your Windows box, go ahead and install the iCloud app that you downloaded earlier. It’ll sync all photos you take to a folder on your box and also allows you to sync misc items with Outlook. Barf.
A few notes on the beta:
-It’s a beta. A few things aren’t working. The most annoying one I’ve found so far is Qrank not working.
-I have not tested any actual phone functionality. Heh.
-The new notification center rocks. You’ll never want to go back to iOS4 after trying it.
-Tabbed browsing on the iPad is glorious
-Photo Stream works, but you can’t delete any photos from your stream yet. Workaround: Don’t take bad pictures.
-Reminders. Buh-bye every to-do list app I’ve ever tried. Being able to set reminders based on location and time will change the way you work. It also syncs across all your iDevices with the same Apple ID.
-Music in the cloud. Buy a song with your iPhone, if set up correctly, it’ll download on your iPad, iTunes libraries and any other device that’s connected to your Apple ID. This is magic. MAGIC.
