What’s new in iOS 4
Apple’s iOS 4 is expected to drop to users today. I’ve been using it for several weeks as an iPhone Developer and since it’s going out to the public today, I can talk about what’s new, what to expect, and what’s limited in this new release.
If you’re an owner of the first generation iPhone, you’re out of luck. iOS 4 won’t run on it. iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4 users will be able to upgrade.
Click here to see what steps to take before upgrading to iOS 4.
Multitasking. Despite the fact that multitasking on the iPhone isn’t true multitasking as us developers know it, it still works pretty well. When I tested the Palm Pre last summer, it was nice having some apps run in the background, but even having it, I never really used it very much. When I did need it, it was because I was writing something with one app, and had to switch to another for reference. On the iPhone, not everything will give you that luxury.
For multitasking to work on the iPhone, the application needs to be built with the iOS 4 SDK. That means your current version of Pandora won’t work in the background yet. Note that multitasking will only work on the iPhone 4 and 3GS. What will work are the following:
- Background Audio
- Voice over IP
- Background Location
- Push Notifications
- Local Notifications
- Task Finishing
- Fast app Switching
To switch to another application, double tap the home key to bring up a list of apps.
Folders. If you have 12 pages of apps, it would be nice to organize them into folders. iOS 4 allows you to do that. Press and hold an icon until they start to jiggle. Once they jiggle, drag one icon on top of another you’d like to make a folder with. Once you drop it, iOS 4 will create a folder for you in that location that you can rename. Very handy.
Unified Mailbox. One of my biggest gripes with the older iPhone OS was the need to dive three levels deep into each of my mailboxes to read messages, then go out three levels to get to my account list, and then dive three levels in again. It was a chore, and now iOS 4 gives you the ability to have a unified mailbox where all your mail comes into one big list. You still have the ability to look at mail inside individual mailboxes, but seeing it come into one list is great for people like me that have many mailboxes to read every day.
Bluetooth keyboard support. I have to admit, I hate writing long passages on my iPhone. Eventually, the need to shift, shift, shift gets on my nerves and I wish I had a keyboard to do what I wanted. With iOS 4, you can now connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your iPhone and type away. Even arrow keys and volume controls work with it. This ability also exists on the iPad.
Background wallpaper. I never liked the plain black background. Now everyone has the ability to use whatever wallpaper they want on their home screen.
You can see the rest of the iOS 4 features on Apple’s iOS 4 web site.
Category: Technology
I’m actually more excited about this as it pertains to the iPad, than the iPhone. I have heard that OS4 actually slows down older iPhones (mine’s a 3G), so I’m not thrilled about that. Folders and to a certain degree bg apps would be nice, but they aren’t nearly as important as those would be on the iPad.