back to article Apple's iOS 4 beams into unprepared world

Apple's much-vaunted iOS 4 arrived Monday morning a few minutes after 10am Pacific time, and nearly an hour and a half later, we were finally able to complete downloading and installing Cupertino's latest and greatest mobile OS onto our iPhone 3GS. Were its marquee features worth the wait — meaning both the 10-plus weeks since …

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  1. Mage Silver badge

    They only adding Folders

    And Multitasking now?

    I have an Nokia E65

    E65: Feb 2007 Has had since then

    Multitasking

    BT keyboard

    POP/SMTP emai

    Exchange

    User defined folders

    Video recording & Calls

    MMS

    bar code decoding (not UPC/EAN due to fixed focus camera)

    Uploading to Flickr etc

    SIP based VOIP

    Working WiFi

    BT GPS

    3G & GSM on 5 bands

    Typically a week between charges.

    BT presenter on PC

    WiFi printing on HP Printer

    Realplayer

    Choice of Nokia or Opera Browser

    fits in any pocket.

    Doesn't need Protector slip case

    etc etc

    Later

    Various Internet Radio apps.

    Skype

    Yahoo, Google and Nokia maps work with BT GPS (sitting at window for better reception than any built in GPS)

    No touch screen, but really good for phone calls. Oddly that is what most people buy a phone for

    My son's Nokia 5800 is large touch screen and works perfect, with FM Radio and GPS built in.

    If it ever breaks I might get one the newer phones with Qwerty keyboard and touch screen.

    So the latest Apple iOS4 and 4th iPhone is what they should have had and could have had on 1st model. It's the deliberate Apple drip feed to sell upgrades.

    Of course the resolution on the new iPhone is a CPU cycle and power wasting gimmick. x4 as many pixels as needed.

    1. Gilbo
      Thumb Down

      Sigh

      It is really quite amazing, shocking even, the margin by which you've completely missed the whole point of what makes the iPhone so popular.

      Thanks for taking the time to point it out to the rest of us, though.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        So....

        ....what *is* it that makes the iPhone so popular?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Y

      "So the latest Apple iOS4 and 4th iPhone is what they should have had and could have had on 1st model. It's the deliberate Apple drip feed to sell upgrades"

      I disagree, it is going take Apple years to catch up, they still haven't achieved parity. Their interface was only so simple because it could hardly do anything.

  2. stu 4
    WTF?

    jailbreak ?

    Wow... so many comments and not a single one about whether they got jailbreaking working.. I have lost respect for El Reg readers....

    So... jailbreakin' - is it working with the final iOS4 release ?

    if so, it bodes well for my iphone4 purchase thursday... I don't want to lose MyWi, fancy icons and 'real' multitasking :-)

  3. Bassey

    Wonderful

    I love the acceptance from certain users users (at least two mentions of this above) that "Of course the app has to be updated to make use of multi-tasking". Steve Jobs has told them this is how it should be so they just accept that there could never have been any other way Strangely, actually having studied computers and having been involved in computing for about 30 years (including many Macs), the idea of an app needing to be aware of how to multi-task - as opposed to it being something the OS looks after - seems the most arse-about faced way of doing things I could possibly imagine.

    Then again, I've yet to attend the Church of Jobs purification courses so maybe my mind is not calm enough to understand the real truth.

    1. Running scared

      @Bassey

      Actually, it's not that bad an idea if you think about it. Unlike Desktops & Servers, mobile devices to have a finite amount of power they can draw upon, so it is appropriate to look at a different model on how to implement multi tasking. Whether the current model put forward by Apple is good enough only time will tell, but personally, I am happy for the developers of Apps to be forced into thinking about what the apps really need to do when in the background.

      I'm sure most of us, with out variety of different hand held devices have all experienced picking up the mobile only to discover it's burning hot and on 1% battery because of some rogue background app.

    2. chr0m4t1c

      @Bassey

      What were you doing for those 30 years?

      Of course applications need to be written to make use of multi-tasking. They should be written to make efficient use of machine time, not just hog as much resource as the OS dishes out.

      Ever used a Windows machine when Outlook is having problems talking to Exchange? That is what happens when applications aren't written to make correct use of multi-tasking.

      A bad application will spin and eat up resources when waiting for something, a good application will register with the OS that it wants to be woken up for something and then go to sleep.

      That stuff doesn't just happen because the OS supports multi-tasking, it has to be specifically written into the application. What Apple have done with iOS4 is impose the restriction on developers to do it the "good" way instead of just allowing them to do what they please, but apparently this is a bad thing if the comments are to be believed.

  4. Damian Skeeles
    Stop

    Why I'm sticking with 3.1.2 for a while

    Simple reasons:

    - Spotify

    - OutFront (MapMyTracks)

    - Plus (spreadsheet)

    If I go for a run, I want Spotify in the background playing my not-quite-purchased music, OutFront tracking my location and route, while I check emails and take occasional photos while running. Or use Plus to track my gym program, at the gym, without having to reopen the sheet every time I re-open the app. And yes, I Jailbroke 3.1.2 to install (free) Backgrounder, which allows all these things to happen, rather well.

    THAT improves my life. Which is the point of all this technology (isn't it?). So I guess I'll have to wait for each and every developer, large and small, to upgrade their apps to iOS4 compatibility, and then somehow test that it all plays nicely, before I actually upgrade my iPhone.

    (Oh... and that backgrounded Spotify will still work with my bluetooth headphones... which it currently more or less does).

  5. Velv
    Jobs Horns

    Missed Opportunity?

    Yes, yes, "my xxxx" can do that.

    Apple HAVE missed a trick - they should be looking at all the other features out there that are "standard" and they should be including them.

    We're not talking difficult stuff here

    - change the message tone (you can already change the ringtone, so how hard can it be).

    - shortcut buttons to key settings (e.g. Bluetooth on/off)

    - loads more things (search for "please fix the iphone")

    I'm not a fanbois - I love my work Nokia too, and before the iPhone my SonyEricsson was excellent. But if Apple REALLY wants to rule the world, they need to get the BASICS right.

  6. Damian Skeeles
    Stop

    Enough with the anti-fanbois

    Fanbois / anti-fanbois - it's all getting a bit much..

    I bought an iPhone, not because it was revolutionary OR magical, but because a load of rich/fanboi folk bought it before me. So when National Rail considered whether to launch a train tracking app, they did a business case analysis, which probably went like this:

    "OK - there's a load of rich folk who have these phones, and use trains. So - it'll cost us X Pounds to set up all the back end servers, APIs, reliable data feeds - all the infrastructure to actually make this work. It'll cost us Y Pounds to commission a decent app to present all this data to users in a very usable way. But we know they'll pay #5 a time to buy this app, and we'll make a profit! Let's do it!"

    And I went: "Wow, that's actually useful. True, I can do it on WAP - but this is quicker, easier, more detailed - better in every way! A bit pricey, but I'll buy it".

    Streetcar: now I can find/book/unlock my car with my iPhone. Can I with Android? No. Can I with a Nokia N1/2/3/4/5/6/78/9/00/000/000000? No. (And don't get my wrong, I loved my SH888, my P800, K610i, and most of all, my 5mx)

    It's not about the camera resolution. It's not about what kind of multitasking there is. It's definitely not the fart apps. It's because the iPhone is a solid business case for so many content/service providers, who will actually produce something really worth using/watching, rather than something based on "whatever's free out there" - actually putting some time and money into providing really good stuff that people (particularly those who have already paid over the odds for their phone) will be happy to pay for.

    'nuff said

    1. Peter Kay

      A fiver?

      Blimey. Instead I'd rather set up the train times for a station web page with WAP, and assign it to a hotkey on my phone (Nokia).

      Cost : free

      Ease of use, speed : Hold down one key

      A fiver for more than that? I don't think so.

  7. leed
    FAIL

    No App store or iTunes for us

    A number of phones in our office can't get to the app store or itunes any more after ios4 upgrade, apple WTF?

  8. UkForest

    Email App

    Anyone else have to go through each individual email to mark as read, as the update had converted them to unread?!

    Love the fact that emails are now "grouped" by sender like in SMS App...

  9. Russ Tarbox
    Thumb Down

    Well I spent hours last night battling with my iPhone 3G

    In the end, iOS4 is not worth it on this model, as most of the noticeable features are disabled. Some are irrelevant (video). Some of the new features such as the e-mail stuff are pointless for me as I use GMail. And let's face it, digital zoom on the camera? What is the point...

    Jailbroken 3.1.3 is definitely the preferred option for 3G owners, in my opinion.

  10. Shonko Kid
    Jobs Horns

    Getting excited over being able to run more than 1 app at a time?!?

    Did I fall through a time warp or something? I'm sure I had lunch in 2010, but this story seems to be from the 90s?

  11. PoonDog

    A waiting game...

    Waited for the update and hurray it arrived!!

    Unfortunately I'm stuck in a Hotel in the middle of nowhere (Central London !) and the Hotel WiFi blocks access to iTunes !

    No problem, I'm in a training course so I'll download iTunes in the classroom and update it there. Bugger - the machines are running XP 64-bit !

    Oh well - guess I'll have to wait until next week :(

  12. RIch 24

    fairly epic fail...

    Had a Ipone 2G jailbroken for 2 1/2 years. Kindle multi-tasks fine on it via backgrounder/proswitcher (albeit a bit slowly) as does most other stuff without being re-written.

    So another example of Mr Jobbie trying to stitch us up with a "new" release.

    I'm bailing out to an HTC Desire....don't think apple can justify the price premium now other platforms have caught up.

    As for the fan-bois vs Apple-bashers...Its only a phone you sad cnuts.

  13. Steve Adams
    Stop

    How to disable multi-tasking?

    I like multi-tasking and have it working on my Android Hero.

    in discussions/forums etc. with iPhone users over the last year or so many of them stated clearly that Apple was right to disallow/disable multi-tasking to 3rd party apps.

    There appeared to be 2 camps:

    i) techy-aware:

    These people stated that disabling MT was good for various reasons, most importantly apparently for battery conservation and consistency-of/control-over the UIU/User experience.

    ii) less techy-aware:

    these seemed happy to go along with the "Apple/Steve-knows-best" approach (fair enough - same approach I have with my car's engine... manufacturer knows best - I'm rubbish at car engines).

    So....:

    Now that multi-tasking is enabled i'm sure many (techy aware) iPhone owners will wish to disable it as they never wanted it and actually valued the lack of multi-tasking as superior.

    The less techy-aware will no doubt be well served by the following the Apple/Steve-knows-best" approach.

    Techy iPhone users... will you embrace MT or do you want it disabled?

    1. RegisterThis
      Grenade

      Trying to be a smarty pants?

      ... but I like it ;-)

      Very valid point. A few of my iPhone fanboy (techy and non-techy) friends (note distinction ... not all my friends who have iPhones are fanboys ... i.e. some treat it as just a 'thing' with pro's and con's compared to the alternatives and not the supreme and objective benchmark of all life!) have pushed these arguments at me constantly over the years effectivly making the argument that MT was not needed and it is indeed better not to have!

      For a bit of fun, I must lob this over the fence to them and see what their views are now ...

      (Personally, I think MT is essential for device convergence i.e. background IM, switching in and out of mapping etc. ... but for other app usage is probably not. But device convergence is where it is headed and to Apple's credit, they have come to the party ... slowly as with a decent camera and turn-by-turn navigation etc. As a result, Apple's iPhone is eventually coming of age and I may be tempted next time I am due an upgrade.)

    2. Russ Tarbox
      Jobs Halo

      Just jailbreak it

      and edit a .plist file ... done ;)

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Damian Skeeles is blinded by iphone propaganda...

    Ignore for a moment that you can access the mobile site of the national rail service from the android browser there actually IS an app you can download which tracks trains, live arrival/departure boards etc. http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/travel/national-rail_gqpr.html

    Want to rent a car from Sixt? You can do it with an Android app http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/travel/sixt-rent-a-car_bcit.html

    Want to find where you parked your car, oh suprise, theres an app for that http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/travel/car-locator_oal.html

    I coudlnt find an app to unlock your car on Android but then I got a bit bored after finding the three apps above that you claim to not be able to get on android phones. Besides the iphone app version only works with zipcars or if you have a special security system added to your car.

    Android is increasingly being used by big companies, just take a look at the IBM Seer app for Wimbledon. Its incredibly polished http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/06/the-ibm-seer-android-wimbledon-ar-app-is-not-just-one-huge-advert/

  15. jnewco81
    Happy

    Works well

    Just installed on my 3GS. Jumping between windows seems a bit snappier now, the Folders work quite nicely (will have a proper mess with them later!), and I really like the new wallpaper setting. Nice update

  16. Kirstian K
    Joke

    Meh

    Wireless keyboard support.

    i had that on my desktop PC years ago...

  17. Watashi

    Phoneys

    @ Brian Morrison

    "..what *is* it that makes the iPhone so popular?"

    Same reason people buy Gucci handbags and Porshe cars.

  18. Sureo

    Multitasking?

    Reminds me of the DOS days when we faked multitasking by hooking the timer tick interrupt. Perhaps its the same here?

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