Posted by Florian Wardell | 3 comments
Everything about iPhone OS 4
Today, Apple introduced the iPhone OS, the operating system that runs on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, during a keynote event at their headquarters in Cupertino, California. This was one of the most unleaked Apple products ever, and even if it wasn’t as anticipated as the iPad, it’s nice to see that Apple is steadily moving forward. There were no real surprises this time: iPhone OS 4 will include over 100 new user features for iPhone and iPod touch owners to enjoy, such as iBooks, multitasking, app folders and better email. And for developers, a new software development kit (SDK) with over 1500 new APIs, which should trigger a flood of new and better apps once the OS is out. While some details still remain obscure, here are the most important things you should remember about iPhone OS 4, and we’ll write a hands on review as soon as as the beta matures a little bit.
The new features
Multitasking: This is the most important addition, and many have been waiting for this. It seems that Apple found an elegant solution: Just press the home button and the app will switch to the background. Double tap the home button and a tray will show up, through which you can scroll. It’s not true multitasking, because it actually freezes the app and only uses the services the app really needs (music for Pandora, alerts for Skype, etc…), but frankly, you don’t need more. Apple says there are seven different kinds of services you can use in the background:
- Audio is the first one, which basically just replicates what the iPod app can already do.
- Voice-over-IP services, like Skype, will now be able to remain active in the background.
- Active background location is designed to allow apps like Tom Tom to run in background. Such apps will be able to access your GPS data and give you instructions even while you use a music app for instance.
- Passive background location works similarly with other non-GPS apps that need location services in a less active way than a driving app like TomTom. Those apps can use 3G cell-tower triangulation to know exactly where you are, alerting you of friends proximity or things happening around you.
- Push notifications have been expanded: They can be used locally. For instance, your cooking app’s timer could send you a notification to tell you that your dish is cooked, without the app being active.
- Task completion will allow applications to finish any tasks started before switching to another application. If you are sending or receiving a file in one app, you would be able to switch to another app, and that file will keep downloading.
- Fast app switching will make all running apps instantly available. Rather than having to start them up each time, the apps in iPhone OS 4.0 will be able to sleep, ready to be awaken at the click of an icon in the running apps tray.
As some pointed out, timeline services like Twitter or IM apps aren’t really included here. We’ll have to see how well the OS works with such apps once we get our hands on it.
Anyway, Apple seems to have hit the nail right on the head here: a versatile multitasking function that doesn’t drain your battery life. Too good to be true?
App folders help users better organize and quickly access their apps. Simply drag one app icon onto another, and a new folder is automatically created. The folder is automatically given a name based on the App Store category of that app, such as “Games,” which the user can easily rename. Using folders, users can now organize and access over 2,000 apps on their iPhone.
Apparently, there are two drawbacks to this system: the gesture needed to overlap the two app icons is tricky, and many report that it needs some getting used to. Second, it’s not possible to create folders inside folders. But all this doesn’t matter, because I will now be able to have all my apps on my iPhone!
The mail app now has a merged inbox view, you can switch between inboxes quickly, and sync to more than one Exchange account. There’s also threaded messaging (at last!) and in-app attachment viewing.
iBooks is the exact same ebook reader as on the iPad, just sized down. I’m not sure this will be hugely popular given the iPhone’s screen size and resolution, but the good news is that the book’s read pages and bookmark sync between your iPad and iPhone.
Enterprise is a whole set of new features aimed at corporate users. As was pointed out during the keynote, 80% of Fortune 100 companies use the iPhone. Features include wireless app distribution, encryption, multiple exchange accounts and SSL VPN support.
The Game Center is like Xbox Live, but for iPhone games, social gaming network,” akin to Open Feint and Ngmoco’s Plus+. It includes achievements, leaderboards, and match making. It will be available as a “developer preview,” and out for consumers later this year. I just wonder why they didn’t call this iGames. Other similar networks exist, so whether or not Game Center will see wide adoption is uncertain. However, during a Q&A following the presentation, Steve Jobs noted that developers had asked for Apple to develop its own social network. “There’s no money to be made and no advantage to us to having a social gaming network, so everyone should just say ‘great, less work for me’,” he said.
The new SDK
- 1,500 new APIs.
iAd. Apple says it’s for keeping “free apps free.” The ads keep you in the app, while also taking over the screen and adding interactivity, using HTML 5 for video up to simple gaming in-ad. Apple will offer a 60 / 40 split on revenue, and users can even buy apps straight from an ad. That’s right, Apple re-declared war on Google and Adobe.- In-app SMS.
- Map overlays.
- Quick look for previewing documents.
- Photo Library access.
- Calendar access.
- Full access to the camera.
- Video playback and capture.
- Date and address “data detectors.”
- Automated testing and performance / power analysis for developers.
- Spell check.
- Bluetooth keyboard support.
- User-defined wallpaper.
- Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos, and a 5x digital zoom for the camera.
- Playlist creation and nested playlists.
One little detail: Apple’s new iPhone 4 Agreement, section 3.3.1, says that “Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited.” This could mean Apple will ban apps made with Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone compiler, Titanium, and PhoneGap. The flash-to-iPhone capability was a huge selling point for Adobe’s CS5, and Apple killed it before it even launched. Ouch.
Compatibility, availability, verdict
iPhone OS 4 SDK beta is available right now for developers, and regular users will have to wait till this summer to download it. This basically means that the new iPhone and the new OS will be available at the same time. Phone OS 4 will work with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the second- and third-generation iPod touch this summer, and with iPad in the fall. Not all features are compatible with all devices. For example, multitasking is available only with iPhone 3GS and the third-generation iPod touch (32GB and 64GB models from late 2009).
Apple played it safe once again. I had predicted most of these features before, and would have, like many other iPhone users, loved to be surprised a little bit more. Where is Steve Jobs’s mythical “One last thing…”? The multitasking, folders, dual wallpaper and new mail functions look neat, but a few long-overdue features have been left out, like iTunes streaming and wireless syncing, or an FM radio we know the iPhone is capable of!
I just hope Apple has a few tricks up its sleeve for the iPhone and the iTunes event that usually takes place in September.
Meanwhile, I’m just curious to see how Google will react and how Adobe will survive.
For those who can’t can’t get enough of Steve Job’s “pretty cool, huh?”, “incredible”, “magical”, “boom” and “awesome”, here is the video of the keynote.
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Via Gizmodo, Ars Technica and Engadget
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