In case you missed it, Apple just unveiled their latest iPhone OS 4.0. Verdict: It seems that, for the past 3 years, Apple was lurking in the shadows of the underground jailbreaking world sewers , where they were planning to put jailbreaking devs out of biz.
So what’s new in iPhone OS 4.0: Multitasking, Custom Backgrounds, App folders, new Mail App, iBooks, Game Center, iAd Advertising and more after the break…
Multitasking
Yep, finally we got it natively. It will be activated by double tapping on the home button, but most apps won’t be running in the background ,just certain functions of the app, like an audio stream or a GPS lock.
Custom Backgrounds
You got it on your jailbroken iDevice and your iPad. Now you can set any background for your Springboard on your stock iPhone and not just for the lockscreen. As far as UI changes, that pretty much it.
App folders
Springboard clutter? Not anymore. Now you can sort all of your apps into folders just like you do on your computer or… oh wait, yeah… on your jailbroken iDevice.
Mail App
Unified inboxes! Multiple Exchange accounts! Fast inbox switching! Threaded messages! You might think this is not a big deal, but iPhone’s mail app suffered no changes since ’07
iBooks
They are bringing the iBooks ebook reader on the iPhone too. Question is: who the hell is reading a book on a 3 inch screen?
Game Center
A multiplayer network like Xbox Live, to help connect games to one another, by the end on the year. There are services that already do this, like OpenFeint. They will probably die. Basically, this service will take control of online game play from app makers. Rather than pairing you up with someone to play with in each game, you’ll go to the game center, pick which game you want to play, and it’ll set you up with someone to play with.
iAd advertising
Apple is finally releasing their own advertising platform. Instead of relying on links to external websites, developers can use Apple’s new tools to keep people in the app while still showing them advertising—sort of like popover browser windows. You can watch videos, play games, and even buy apps from within these ads. Pretty much iAd, is a huge stiff middle finger for Google.
Misc
- 5x digital zoom – can hint to a higher quality camera in the next hardware
- Tap to focus video
- Bluetooth keyboards – porting it from the iPad, iPhone will finally get support for bluetooth keyboards
iPhone OS 4.0 will ship this summer and iPhone 3Gs and iTouch 3G will get all its features. iPhone 3G and iTouch 2G will get “many things,” which doesn’t include multitasking. That means iPhone 3G and iTouch 2G won’t get multitasking, so be glad you are jailbroken. The iPad won’t get the 4.0 upgrade until Fall of this year, a few months after the iPhone does.