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Are you yearning for greater Facebook integration with your iPhone? Your prayers might be answered when iPhone OS 4.0 arrives on end users’ devices this summer.

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iPhone OS 4.0 (beta) - Review

So a lot of folks out there are writing about the iPhone OS 4.0, so I thought I may as well add one more to it.

Relatively new to the iFraternity, (only as far as the iPhones go!) I wasn’t as psyched, so to speak, for iPhones out there. Saying that, I never regret the decision not buying one for myself but also a second one for my lovely wife Krisha. A lot goes to my friend and colleague Femi to convince me in getting one of these phones and make me a part of the iGeneration.

Alright enough about “How I met my iPhone!”

The reason why I decided to write this post up was that I was BLESSED to trial the iPhone OS 4.0 today. Being a registered Apple developer for iPhone, I get to access the beta version and believe me there’s been no looking back since I installed this awesome update on my phone.

Doesn’t matter if I end up making an App which is downloaded by a one or a million someday, but since I’m a registered developer I could pull it off.

I’ll highlight a few of the many improvements set to be released to general public in summer (American) this year. My guess is it, should be released alongside a new version of the iPhone on 22-Jun-10. Well 22-Jun is the date when most Apple products (significantly important one’s at least) are launched.

So here goes my list of features for iPhone OS 4.0.

1. Multitasking:

Now this is the most talked about feature we have all wanted since the iPhone was talked of in its kindergarten days.

Although it was readily available in most other smartphones of today, Apple has taken its time to deliver what is Simple yet Robust interface for multitasking. I’m all praise for this feature on the Apple iPhone more than any other smartphones out there as digging a bit into the SDK it reaffirms my confidence that Apple like always knows what it is doing. The mechanism is so simple in the backend yet it delivers exactly what you would expect from most phones out there and more.

The best part is the fact that it has taken care of two most important aspects with multi-tasking:

a) Performance: You can judge the difference in performance, although, don’t quote me as I am yet to do any hardware tests to quantify this statement.

b) Battery: This is a very important aspect as we all know that our beloved iPhone’s battery can be less than average at times and hence Apple had to deliver a flawless solution here, and boy they did.

I have 12 apps open at the time of writing this post and a few of them as I know drain both the battery and make our lovely iPhone a bit sluggish at times. But there is absolutely no noticeable difference in its performance as I see. The functionality is really simple yet effective as always. Just double-tap (double-click if you prefer to say so) the Home button and there comes your 4 most recently used apps and you can scroll through the list to find other apps which are still open.

Multitasking on iPhone OS 4.0

You can choose to close these by pressing one of the app icons in this view and holding it, much like trying to move an icon, and a “-” sign will allow you to close this app completely from memory. I would have definitely preferred a less obtrusive solution for this but I’m better off having it than not!

Closing an app on iPhone OS 4.0 (Multitasking)

2. Folders: (for Apps)

If you are like me and like to download a lot of apps and keep them on your iPhone most of the times, then this feature is a godsend. You are now allowed to group your apps in a folder by dragging one app onto another. What’s more is that based on the category of your apps, it automatically creates a label for your new app folder, but if you dislike it, you can go ahead and name it whatever you like.

It’s a good thing as it saves a lot of trouble and time to scan through numerous pages in search of your app.

Each folder allows you to store 12 apps at a time. So bottom line is it’s a great feature and it allows you to have up to 2160 apps at once instead of the current limit of 180 apps across 11 pages.

This allows you to make your iPhone a lot more clutter-free and organised.

Organising apps in Folders on iPhone OS 4.0

3. Mail:

Mail has been improved a lot with the ability to have more than one MS Exchange account, one inbox to see all your emails from different accounts to say the least.

It now supports Microsoft Exchange 2010 as well.

A very important feature in my opinion is the ability to open attachments in different Apps. This means that if you have an app which allows for you to read file formats that are not allowed in the native Mail app, you can now open such files in these apps from out of Mail itself.

If you use notes on your email account then they can now be synced with you iPhone as well.

Another feature added is threaded conversation which allows you to refer to all emails relating to the same conversation much like iPhone SMS or emails on your Gmail account.

4. Wallpaper:

Now I’m not very big on wallpapers but you are now able to set wallpapers (backgrounds) for not just your lock screen but also your home screen. iPhones OS 4.0 allows you to set the same picture as wallpaper for both your Lock and Home screen but also set different pictures for both these screen as you like.

Wallpaper on the Lock Screen

Wallpaper on the Home Screen

5. Spell Check:

Another feature is the ability to spellcheck on most typed material. I’ve tested this in the native Notes app and also the Facebook app which works perfectly fine. I have not yet confirmed the ability to change dictionaries or ability to add custom words to the default dictionary, if it exists.

Spell check in action in Notes app

6. Background Audio & VoIP:

Now this is more so a part of multitasking but it’s really important as it allows you to listen to internet radios like Pandora in the background while doing something else on your phone or simply locking the screen and putting it in your pocket.

VoIP calls, like on Skype, are going to be a big winner of the multitasking feature as it allows you to stay logged even while you’re not in the same app and still receive a call.

I think this is a game changer, as it would spell doom for mobile companies worldwide as people would definitely prefer to use VoIP instead of using their expensive mobile minutes! If the mobile companies do not significantly change their business models to offer competitive Data plans, they would suffer major blows in the years to come.

Although voice would be prevalent for mobile companies, I believe data is the one that will pick the winner.

7. Game Centre:

Apple is really trying to push the likes of Sony PSP and Nintendo DS out of the handheld gaming devices paradigm. There are optimists out there who predict iPad will eventually phase out consoles like Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation. Although that seems a bit farfetched at this stage, Apple’s new offering Game Centre is certainly worth taking a note of.

Adding social gaming to iPhone (will be released as Preview only initially) will certainly entice a lot of gamers out there. It allows you to compete with other friends and post your scores on a leader board etc.

I have not taken much time into researching this offering, but I understand it has long lasting effects that will benefit not just end users but gaming companies overall.

This is Apple’s very own social gaming network.

8. OTA (Over the air) App Sync:

What Apple has intended to do with this update is bring RIM (makers of popular Blackberry) to its knees by offering a lot of control to IT and System admins at your workplace. IT departments can now send private Apps to iPhone directly including updates over the air from their own servers. IT has ability to encrypt your data, including email etc. thereby providing greater data security for IT Admins out there.

Secure VPN access would allow you to get your hands on the corporate data without much hassle, so long as your IT department is ready to support it.

9. iAd:

Judging from the keynote delivered by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, iAd is THE mobile advertising platform that most advertising publishers and companies who spend big bucks would be interested in spending their money on.

Since the Ads will be delivered by Apple itself, one can imagine the consistency and the yet to be released pricing.

Apple has decided to let developers keep 60% of the Ad revenues made. As Apple puts it, this is an industry standard for revenue sharing.

10. iBooks

Now this was originally designed for, and now available, on iPad. As the name suggests it allows you to read e-books or what you may want to call as iBooks. There are a lot of free books available and you can obviously purchase paid books as well. “Winnie the Pooh” is the e-book which would come free with the iBooks app. One is able to organise different books as if they were stacked in a bookshelf, much like what is currently available on iPads.

This again is a very innovative offering considering a lot of people did not anticipate it to available on iPhones so soon. Amazon Kindle would be the most affected amongst other E-book readers available in the market currently.

If you like reading books and can’t be bothered carrying an extra bag just to carry that book you like reading so much, you might want to look forward to this app. That’s not all, all your iBooks can be synced across your iPad alike, thereby removing the need for you to purchase separate versions for different devices in the same household.

10. Bluetooth Keyboard

Users will now have the ability to connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your iPhone.

11. 5x Digital Zoom

This update to iPhone OS will allow users to digitally zoom up to 5x to capture images.

12. Gift Apps

Now if you have a friend, colleague, partner or anyone else who you would want to gift an App, this will be possible. Simply charged to your iTunes account as usual, no hassles.

13. 100+ New features

All up there are some 100+ new features that will be delivered as a part of the iPhone OS 4.0 to the end user, the main one’s are listed above.

14. 1500 New API

For developers of iPhone apps, there are 1500 new APIs to incorporate in your apps utilising the power of the new OS.

So, that’s it from me right now. Catch you next time.

Miral Shah