iOS 5 rumors: messaging, notifications, widgets and lock screen

Joshua Topolsky at This Is My Next has shared some last-minute iOS 5 rumors from a reliable source, including revamped messaging and notifications plus widgets and new lock screen functions.

Josh's source(s) reports that Apple has readied its own MMS/SMS protocol, which will route messages to the appropriate iOS users. Carriers, watch out.

Also, incoming notifications will no longer pop up and interrupt what you're doing, but slide unobtrusively from the top of the screen and await input from the user. Josh also reports that a screenshot of a "new" iOS notification that's been floating around is not real.

But wait, there's more! Accessing your notifications history by sliding the screen down also reveals a series of widget utilities, like weather. Finally, the new lock screen will display incoming messages and notifications as well as an icon identifying its point of origin. A swipe will bring you directly to that app.

It's all conjecture, of course, but Topolsky's sources are typically reliable. We'll know for sure soon enough.