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New to iOS 5 are more robust notification features, such as a tray that enables one to view notification messages from multiple apps simultaneously by sliding a finger down from the top of the screen. You may also change the relative “pecking order” of notifications by enabling the Sort by Manually option found in set in the Settings app in the right hand section after selecting the Notifications category.

More notification improvements with iOS 5 include allowing one to turn off icon badges – the small red circles that appear in the corner of app icons. Not only visual but aural notifications can also be tweaked. My personal favourite notification “turn off” feature: the ability to disable the annoying sound notifications used to excess by needy apps that constantly crave attention. These miscreants include such apps as Twitter clients, IM’s, and virtually every other variety and category of social networking app.

To disable (or enable) badge and sound notifications, open the Settings app, then tap the Notifications category at left and under the heading labelled Notificaion Center in the right section, select the application name that needs notification tweaking. In the example screenshots above, I changed the notification settings for the Echofon app (a Twitter client), and turned off badges and yes the sounds (I later turned the badge switch back to the ON position).