OS 4 coming later this year
Well after what seems like an absolute age iPhone OS4 has been announced and below you can see a round of all the new goodies you can expect to see.
iPhone OS4 developer preview will be out later today (which we’ll be installing) with the full release later in the year.
First up… Mutlitasking
At last!
Finally Multitasking is here. People have been wanting this since the birth of the iPhone, and now in the 4th major release of the iPhone OS users will now be able to switch between listing to music and going to the app store, or being logged into Skype and surfing the web or reading emails.
Multitasking on OS 4 is activated by a double click on the home button and a dock-like bar appears at the bottom of the screen, showing you a list of running applications. You can then choose which application you want to run and your wish will come true.
Multitasking in action
Apple didn’t previously release multitasking as it comes with a trade-off for performance and battery life and they believe they have found a way around this, and I really do hope so because with a battery that only lasts a day already the last thing I want is to have even less time between charges.
Next up… Folders
Organise your apps with Folders
Are you sick of all the apps on your iPhone just being all over the place? Do you have a bit of OCD and already have all your games on one screen and all your reference apps on another? Well here’s some great news, Apple have introduced Folders in OS 4.
To activate Folders you simply activate wiggly icons then drag and drop one app on top of another and it will make a folder, the folder will be named as per the categories of the app, or you can rename the folder yourself, you know just in case you don’t put two games apps into one folder.
Which game shall I choose?
Next up… Wallpaper
We kind of knew this one was coming, afterall it’s a ‘feature’ of iPad so it only makes sense that it is on the iPhone now.
It’s pretty self explanatory really, you can now set the wallpaper on the home screen, lock screen or both.
Set wallpaper
Next up… Enhanced Mail
At last! a unified inbox!
At last! Multiple Exchange accounts!
You can also open attachments with apps, so say someone sends you a word doc you could open it with QuickOffice.
And of course with a unified inbox there has to be a way to quickly switch between them and they have included that too.
Next up… iBooks
iBooks for iPhone
Just like on iPad there is now an iBooks app for the iPhone (when or if it will be available in NZ is anyone’s guess). It looks to be a small version of the iPad app, and to make life easier there will be wireless syncing of your books between the iPad and the iPhone.
As with iBooks for iPad, a free illustrated copy of Winnie the Pooh will be provided with each copy of iBooks on the iPhone.
Next up… Enterprise
No, not the Starship
Better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution, support for multiple Exchange accounts, Exchange Server 2010, and new VPN options.
Next up… Game Center
Game Center
Game Center is a social gaming network, much like OpenFeint, or Xbox Live, this is huge for Apple. With a social gaming network, the ability to invite friends add your score to leaderboards, get achievements and matchmaking (not overly sure what this is at the moment). OpenFeint are going to take a huge hit on this one but it’s no surprise that Apple want a piece of that pie.
And Finally… iAd Mobile Advertising
iAd Mobile Advertising
There had been rumours for sometime now about Apple getting into the advertising game, and here it is, done Apple’s way. Apple wanted to deliver not only eye-catching and interactive ads but they also want to deliver on “emotion” which Jobs believes is currently missing from internet advertising today (which lets be honest it is).
Steve jobs doesn’t like the way ads are currently integrated into apps, so they are releasing iAd. When you click on an iAd ad it keeps you inside your current app (instead of taking you to a web page).
The ads are like mini apps within an app. They can be full of all sorts of content from wallpapers, to video and even games.
Apple is going to sell and host the ads, and they’re going to do a 60/40 revenue split (that’s 60% to the developers).
Oh and ‘One last thing’ anyone else notice the new dock?
New OS 4 Dock
It was casually mentioned, but no one seems to have talked about it that much. They have finally brought the original and (IMO) the nicer reflective first-gen iPod touch dock to the iPhone. This is much more in keeping with the reflective dock in OS X and on the iPad, so it’s great to finally see it on the iPhone.
So what devices are going to be able to use all these fancy new features? Steve says:
We are releasing it for end users for iPhone and iPod touch for users this summer. For the 3GS and iPod touch 3rd gen. And, for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen, they will run many things… but there are some things they won’t run, like multitasking.
Does it work on your device?
The developer preview is available right now and the full release will be later in the year. OS 4 for iPad will be later in the Fall (US) .
All-in-all there are 1500 new API’s in OS 4. Devs can now access the calendar, photo library, quicklook, camera (still and video) and more…..
Dev API's
…and there are over 100 new user features. The 7 ‘tent poles’ (key features) above, plus heaps more such as create playlists, 5x digital zoom for the camera, tap to focus on video, gift apps, geotagging, places in the photo app, change the homescreen wallpaper, bluetooth keyboards and spell checker to name a few.
New user features
So what do you think, has it lived up to every thing you ever wanted? Let us know in the comments below.
[all images courtesy of Engadget.com and for a full breakdown of the event click here to read on Engadget.com]
The only thing I was really interested in was the multitasking, although the folders will be useful for sorting all my games, which takes up 2/3 of my devices icons. I’m glad they tried to do multitasking in a way that preserves the little battery life the device has. I think it’s a start but I’m still not 100% convinced yet that this is the best solution. Only when this OS is released will we see how well (or poorly) this multitasking system works with the apps we use from day to day. Time will tell.
(yum9me has made 28 comments)
It’s everything I ever wanted and now I’ve gotta go buy a new fucking iPhone to use it, thanks apple
(Plamsaglows has made 52 comments)
I’m unconvinced by Multitasking. Especially the background VOIP API that they demoed for Skype. They had the Skype guys there saying that before there was no way to receive incoming calls, but now thanks to multitasking it can hang around in the background and allow incoming calls. There is no reason that couldn’t have been implemented with push notification. None at all. And now when Skype is running in the background you have a dirty-great double-width task bar that is RED and says ‘Skype’ running over the top of all your apps. And the double-tap implementation of this doesn’t look very intuitive to me. Before, your mum could pick up and use the iPhone. Now… hmmmm I’m really not sure this was a good move.
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
I installed the new OS at 730 this morning and it really is amazng, not because what it offers in the way of new apps but the speed of flciking from app to app is so noticable your blown away by it, and this is only beta 1!! How soon will you have the carrier settings updated Dan
(simonwhite has made 41 comments)
Probably not today Simon. Dan’s been up since 4am following the news and putting this article together, plus he’s kind of focussing on the iPad right now. Neither of us have the beta installed yet so we don’t know what works and what doesn’t. Have you tried installing the existing carrier bundle? Does it not work?
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
Yeah mate tried carrier bundle, using XT, didn’t work so had to manually enter details
(simonwhite has made 41 comments)
Bugger. Oh well I guess a few coffee-fuelled all-nighters are headed our way…
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
Yeah only thing I don’t know how to change manaully is the voicemail button…
(simonwhite has made 41 comments)
Ok no doubt too early but anyone have access to the developer SDK (and Beta OS4) to confirm if the carrier files (with tethering) still work with this new update?
(camtab has made 468 comments)
Opps…someone else already asked (helps if I refresh first)..sorry. Ok I wait for carrier files to get updated.
(camtab has made 468 comments)
@ simonwhite:
As far as we know there *is* no way to get the voicemail button working manually
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
@ Steve:
I suspected this was the case so all good
(simonwhite has made 41 comments)
You woudl think that now apple has been selling handsets out right in the store that they would have the carrier settings for each network setup as an option in itunes…. MAN I STILL CAN’T BELIVE HOW FAST THIS NEW OS RUNS
(simonwhite has made 41 comments)