iPhone OS 4.0 – Multi-tasking, Folders, iBooks and more…
That’s right! Apple just announced the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 in a press event held in California.
Without further ado, here are the new features:
- Multi-tasking. You heard right: starting this summer, your iPhone will be able to multitask.
- There will be seven services available which do this: background audio, which allows you to use the standard pop-over iPod controls; Voice over IP, which can receive calls in the background; location services for GPS and social networking (there’ll be an indicator if any service is tracking you); updated push notifications with local notifications; task completion so you can finish things like uploads in the background; and fast app switching, which lets apps sleep and resume instantly.
- What’s missing? Conversation managing, like Instant Messaging or Twitter (which I believe is a shame!)
- Sad news: Multitasking will only be supported on iPhone 3Gs and iPod Touch 3rd gen or later. Anyone with a 3G or 2nd gen iPod won’t be able to use this feature.
- App Folders. Something we hate (being the company behind Clutterpad) is well, clutter. With 4.0 you’ll be able to tidy up your home screen(s) by putting apps into folders. This also means you’ll be able to have a maximum of 2,160 apps on your phone!
- Game Center. A bit like Xbox Live. Includes achievements, leaderbords and match making. You’ll be able to compete versus other iPhone users.
- Better Mail. You can now have several inboxes, with multiple exchange servers support. Threaded messages and in-app attachment viewing are also features.
- iBooks. Who says the iPad is the only player in town? Take your books anywhere you are on the smaller screen. They’ll automatically sync between your platforms too!
- Enterprise Support. IT staff will now be able to easily deploy iPhones within their organization.
- iAd. A whole new way for developers to implement ads in their apps. “With it, apps can feature rich media ads that combine the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web” (Apple). Advertisers will benefit of this platform because of it’s incredible reach. Users won’t be bothered by the ads since they will open directly in-app (versus new window). Profits will be shared 60/40 (with developers taking the majority and Apple the rest)
Some other less notable features are:
- Spellchecker (already present on the iPad).
- Bluetooth keyboard support (also on the iPad).
- User-defined wallpapers for your home screen(s).
- Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos and a new 5x digital zoom for the camera.
- Playlist creation and nested playlists.
- 1,500 new APIs.
- Full access to the camera.
- Date and address “data detectors.”
iPhone OS4 will be available for all iPhones and iPod Touches this summer (except multitasking which will only be available for 3Gs/3rd gen iPod), whilst the iPad will receive 4.0 in the fall.
Images courtesy of GDGT
Edit: You can now read more from the official Apple Website http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/ You can also view the video here: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1004fk8d5gt/event/
We sure are excited, now tell us what you think in the comments!
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MK
I am really excited about multi-tasking! This is fantastic news.
Dave Reynolds
Agreed…multitasking was sorely missing. Apples explanation why the haven’t done this before never made sense either.
MK
And to be honest, I’m glad they are not going to support Flash. It really does suck!
Joachim Kudish
@MK it doesn’t necessarely suck but it’s defintely bloated and not the proper platform for the iPhone/iPad
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zeank
guess the most exciting things for all the competitors are game center and iAd
I didn’t see this coming, did you?
Joachim Kudish
@Zeank I did! Numerous sources mentioned being invited to the even earlier this week! What you think of the new features?
zeank
well, things like multitasking are not a big surprise. it would have been more than surprising If they still wouldn’t have dealt with it…
MK
@Zeenk I completely agree. It’s about time. But I do have to admit that I didn’t see it coming. Wasn’t following Apple news for a bit. What’s your favorite new feature?
zeank
don’t laugh but I guess it’s the improved mail app
MK
@Zeenk – What’s so good about it?! That was the one feature I personally thought was pretty useless!
zeank
If you have to deal with multiple accounts currently it can get pretty annoying if you have to switch through all accounts one by one. each time you have to get back to the overview pane by clicking several times on back buttons. pretty much time consuming…
maybe they’ve added even more goodies like filtering or mass editing (like marking spam by certain criteria). of course a spam filter would be awesome but they’d have mentioned it.
Joachim Kudish
@Zeank and @MK Personally, I like that there will be threaded messages. Much more like GMail!
Joachim Kudish
It sure is too bad that they won’t support 3G for multitasking. My iPhone won’t multitask!
zeank
well, same here. probably my old 3g would be too slow anyway to deal with it…
Joachim Kudish
Yeah, they say that 3G and older, the hardware just doesn’t support the multitasking capabilities…
Tyler Bird
I suppose if you keep up with the Joneses and upgrade your hardware every time a new phone comes out you’re all set. But those of us who bought a iPhone 3G and have been happy with the performance will be left in the dust without multitasking support. Looks like the decision to finally sell my iPhone has been made for me.
Joachim Kudish
You can now read more on the Official Apple Webpage: http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/
Waqar
This look absolutely amazing… I have been suing a Blackberry for years now but I am really tempted to get an iphone.
Joachim Kudish
Crackberry is dead
Joachim Kudish
You can now view the video coverage here: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1004fk8d5gt/event/
Joachim Kudish
I’m surprised that they didn’t announce a new iPhone hardware today too. What do you guys think? 3GS for another year?
MK
I don’t think it’s a surprise. They’ll probably announce a short while after the iPad 3G version has shipped. It would be a conflict if they launched a new iPhone at the same time as the iPad.
Joachim Kudish
Yeah, I suppose it would be confusing, but isn’t the versioning going to be all off now?
iPhone 4G will come out at the same time as iPhone OS 5 or something?
Andrei iancu
Personally, I think it’s a shame they are making the early iPad adopters wait until Fall… Multitasking would obviously come in handy on the iPad more then on anything else.
Joachim Kudish
@Andrei Yup I agree. I wonder what the reasoning behind that is all about
New Apple iPhone Leaked « Business is Pleasure
[...] with it. According to the person who found it, this iPhone was running iPhone OS 4.0 before the iPhone 4.0 announcement. The person was able to play with it and see the iPhone 4.0 features. After Apple [...]
Joachim Kudish
Make sure to check out the leaked iPhone 4G hardware: http://bip.softwarejewel.com/technology/new-apple-iphone-leaked-3302/
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