Apple refuses to get cozy and complacent. Their gears are always turning and after much speculation/flat out rumors, they’ve demoed iPhone OS 4. The beta of the new OS was also released for developers to test their apps. The new OS will be released for the iPad in the fall (no specific date given, you know how Apple is).
From watching the keynote presentation myself there were indeed claps and general enthusiasm amongst the industry insiders. Also Jobs executed another blow toward Adobe by championing and supporting HTML5 (Flash is also forbidden to create apps in new Developers SDK). Many people have rejoiced about the 7 new key features for the new OS:
1. Multitasking ( most important of key features and mentioned as a major request among its users) will NOT work on iPod Touch 8G “MC” models, unfortunately ( I was really counting on this working for this version because that’s what I own and all of us 8G users have been shafted, jail-breaking will still reign supreme for most of the community) Importantly, Apple has figured a way to have the multitasking feature without draining the battery. That was a major issue that had to solve before they considered this a solid feature.
2. Folders
So smoothly well done, you can put your apps in folders, grouping them together to make them easier to find while also allowing for more apps to be stored within the 11 pages of iPhones and iPod Touches (example: you can group all your Games together and access them quickly and efficiently)
3. Unified Inbox
Instead of having to check each email account within the Mail application, it’ll pull all your mail into a single inbox, making inherently easier to keep track of messages.
4. iBooks
Released last weekend with the launch of the hugely successful iPad (300,000 devices sold to date) iBooks sky-rocketed to success as well and will now be available on iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3G
5. Enterprise
Although this is a feature that I don’t have a use for, Apple has greatly improved the encryption, scalability and compatibility on their iPhones to be able to utilize them better through enterprises ( only time will tell if this will give RIM’s Blackberry a run for its money)
6. iAd
Apps aren’t truly free; developers must be able to profit off their apps if users want to see improved versions and support in the future. There are already ads in many apps (mostly the free ones) and Steve Jobs remarked that “mobile advertising sucked”. He’s right. This is where iAd comes in; the ads in apps will not distract the users from their apps experience but also be more interactive and useful. One of the mock apps in the keynote demoed Toy Story 3 and it was fascinating! It was like being in an entirely different app! There were videos from the film’s scene, free iPhone wallpapers, sound bites of the characters, ability to see where the film would be played; the list goes on. The great thing is that the ads don’t pluck you out of your app into Safari to view the developer’s website. Indeed these iAds will take up 1/8 of the screen real estate (already seen people complaining about that on tech sites) I think this is the best solution that’s manageable for the user and profitable for the developer. The only app that implements ads well in the App Store is the New York Times. They have an app that’s 1/8 of the screen real estate but it’s unobtrusive and if you click on the ad, it doesn’t pluck you from the app. I think this feature is great though a lot of people have to get used to it with the new OS.
7. 1500 new API’s
This is a feature which most people won’t use because they aren’t developers. For the developers, they’ve been presented with 1500 new API’s in which to increase functionality of iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
other features:
VoIP support with Skype, finally Skype will be backgrounded so you don’t lose connection and can receive calls without having the app open in the foreground (note that Skype runs on WiFi and NOT 3G because Apple doesn’t allow it to run on anything other than WiFi). For some, this is MAJOR feature of the new OS and it seems to be well executed.
you’ll be able to change your home screen’s wallpaper as demoed in the keynote
Game Center, Apple has decided to enter the gaming community full force to reign over the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Both devices, iPhones and iPod Touches have soared in terms of use for gaming. Apple is smart in using a large scale model akin to Xbox Live (in terms of scale not features yet) on their mobile devices. They intend on leaving competitors in the dust.
Jailbreaking
I’ve been doing quite a bit of researching about jail-breaking because I was weighing the options of the new OS or jail-breaking and have more control over content on my iPod. Everyone knows the jail-breaking superstar, George Hotz aka Geo-hot of the blackra1n jailbreak solution and are waiting on him to release a solution for Apple’s hard to crack 3.1.3 firmware. I’m not recommending jail-breaking ( it voids your warranty) but I’m seeing a lot of people have success with it and can relish in non-App Store applications through Cydia. I was really counting on multitasking on my device but now that’s not even a possibility. Customization is the biggest reason people jailbreak, they want the freedom to have a device that is unique and serves their purposes better.
Overall, the iPhone OS 4 shows great promise and even more success for Apple.
Steve Jobs has indeed perfected the keynote presentation, in my opinion; clear presentation style and no major mistakes and keeps people engaged in he’s presenting.
Hands on video via Gizmodo with iPhone OS 4
Today’s iPhone (Phonedog.com branch) take on new OS’s 7 “tent poles” by Matt Stratton
Follow Gizmodo on Twitter @gizmodo
and Noah Kravitz, Senior Editor of Phonedog.com (my favorite reviewer of all time for cell phones and other devices, his unboxing videos are always epic ) @Phonedog_Noah
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