So, I might not be able to do much work on OSNews due to my internship (I always wondered what tumble weeds looked and sounded like on a website – now I know), but I did know one thing: Monday, June 21, is iTunes day. This means launching that horrid mess to go through the painstakingly archaic backup/update iTunes/update iOS routine (and yes, they still try to cheat you into installing Safari) – because Apple released iOS 4.0 today, adding a number of welcome features to bring the iOS up to par with the competition.
We’ve already covered iOS 4 in quite some detail, so there’s no need to go through each and every feature again. The big one is “multitasking”, which is placed between quotation marks because it’s not really multitasking at all (but who cares what it is – as long as it looks like multitasking I’m happy). After installing iOS 4, you’ll be able to do something indistinguishable from multitasking. Finally.
Folders are another nice addition, allowing you to store several applications within a single folder on your home screen. This should alleviate the problem many have where they have 3489345 applications installed (3489145 of them flashlight and fart applications) spread over an insane amount of home screens. Speaking of home screens – you can have your own background now. Yeah.
There’s other stuff too, like a much-improved mail applications, spell checker, improved camera zoom, support for wireless keyboards, and more. In other words, make a cup of tea, get a good book (or hopefully watch Spain lose to Honduras), and have fun with the iTunes update eXpErIeNcE.
Unfortunately Spain looks pretty sharp tonight. Perhaps we can lend them a defender – or they could be talked into using those from North Korea
And no… this year will be bad for Holland. We’ll get our revenge in the finale
I’ve put my money down on a Dutch v Spanish final.
In that case I’m supporting Holland.
On my 3Gs scrolling in the Settings Menu and a couple of other places now definitely seems more jumpy and not as smooth as before. When I think about it, now it feels sort of like my brother’s 3G.
But I guess that’s the price of progress
The King (3GS) is dead, long live the King (4)
that’s just how apple make you feel like you’ve to upgrade. Same menus. Same app. Slower.
Was the same when they upgraded 2G to 3G.. the system menu scrolling lagged for no reason. It’s the same damn menu.
I suppose they really do code in stuff to slow it down and make you feel like you need to upgrade.. yay for Apple’s racket.
Off Topic: Guys (and girls), you’ve been submitting lots of awesome news, that’s great, thanks! But if you only submit a single paragraph teaser, or just a link then that puts the onus on us to a) know about the technology and b) expand upon that news. With Thom (who eats through this stuff like none of of the editors) out of action, we’re seriously struggling to feature this stuff.
_Please_, if you have news, please write a teaser + your expansion / understanding / criticism / discussion of the news since in most cases, you’re submitting the news because you know more about it than I personally do. That will go a long way towards getting news published and featured rather than bit-rotting in our queue, thanks.
edit: That was strange. text duplicated.
Edited 2010-06-21 20:27 UTC
Fell free to remove “First release of Emumiga” from the queue. I’ll rewrite it.
Yes, backgrounds, that is if your phone is ‘powerful’ enough. If you own a few months old 3G, you miss out on multitasking… And backgrounds :/. Way to go Apple, a nice way of treating your customers.
My next phone will not be an iPhone…
It’s about 12 months’ old and less powerful.
Now, if they bent over backwards the way that Microsoft was doing for Windows, they’d be much better off, right? It seems to me that we’ve seen that argument here, also, and no one was happy about it, either.
They sold it up to recently. My dad bought an iPhone four months ago. Four months, and already outdated?
Sure they were selling it, but it was not the current model. Did you not tell him that? Did the advertising not tell him that?
I’ve found other devices available to me that weren’t current and I would hardly expect, as quickly as phones (and other hand-held devices) come and go, that they would receive first rate treatment.
I’m not saying that it’s fair but companies put limits on what they’ll support. If anyone buys an iPhone 3G S next week, they shouldn’t expect a lot of support in 1 or 2 years, even though that would be nice.
Imagine the poor first generation users who won’t even get security fixes.
Edited 2010-06-22 02:12 UTC
Custom backgrounds not possible on an iPhone 3G?, only because it is 12 months old. please that is not excusable
According to this, performance was the reason: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/22/steve-jobs-on-lack-of-custom-wa…
I don’t quibble with the planned obsolescence being distasteful, but the 3G is 24 months old, the 3Gs is 12 months old. The 3G has only got about 40mb RAM free when booted, so multitasking is pretty much a bad idea, as is compositing a background image.
My jail broken iPod touch 2g does multi tasking and backgrounds fine. I don’t see much if any lagging unless I’m trying to do too much at one time.
also available for iPad?
It will be available in the autumn for iPad, from what I’ve read.
I’m really interested in it and, though I have the second generation iPod touch, I’ll wait until 4.0.1 to avoid two 290+ MB downloads since they’ll fix quite a few runtime problems within a few weeks.
My iPhone 3G was already slow to start with. iOS4 makes it even more sluggish. Very disappointing.
Thanks! I will not be upgrading if that is the case. Sorry you had to be my guinea pig
Yas, it is slower, and on the 3G it doesn’t offer much more than folders and an improved e-mail client. Luckily I do most stuff onj the iPad now anyway…
Edited 2010-06-21 21:43 UTC
For real multitasking, try the Palm Pre.
Or an Android phone
Edited 2010-06-22 02:09 UTC
Or Symbian S60 (any version).
Or BlackBerry.
Or Windows Mobile 6!
Welcome to 2000 Apple! … wait a second, it still isn’t arbitrary multitasking. Bah.
// Runs away screaming in terror.
Better try Maemo.
Are they ever going to stop using the “i” prefix?
Does anyone know what it means or stands for?
Initially, it stood for “internet”.
Now, it’s just an expression of pure selfishness.
Apple could have come up with “i” for “innovation”… iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and now iOS? and maybe there are other “i”s I don’t know about.
Frankly, “i” shouldn’t mean “internet” (if that’s indeed what it was meant to mean) in a world where it has become so common. It reminds me of those people who were eagerly adding “2000” to company or product names… 2000 today is still not stone age but close enough to sound outdated.
Not that the “innovation” isn’t debatable but that’s another story.
Edited 2010-06-23 13:26 UTC