We know we don’t have many iPhone members here, but this is newsworthy anyway, especially since its all about competition in the smartphone world. Apple unveiled iPhone OS 4.0 today with some interesting features. First of all, the iPhone 4.0 will be shipping this summer with a developer preview to come later today. The iPhone 3GS will be upgradeable and will get all of the new features.
We all knew this was coming, but the iPhone will finally have multitasking. Its really late to this game, but according to Apple, it’ll be the “best” implementation of it on any device to date.
Feature List:
- Multitasking.
- Spell check (like on the iPad).
- Bluetooth keyboard support (again, on the iPad).
- User-defined wallpaper (a jailbreak favorite).
- Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos, and a 5x digital zoom for the camera.
- Playlist creation and nested playlists.
- App folders for sorting apps! You can even put an app folder in the dock.
- Enhanced Mail! You can have a merged inbox view, 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, just like on iPad, only smaller. You can wirelessly sync books between platforms, a la Kindle.
- Enterprise features, including remote device management and wireless app distribution.
- Game Center. It’s like Xbox Live, but for iPhone games. Includes achievements, leaderboards, and match making. It will be available as a “developer preview,” and out for consumers later this year.
For Developers:
- 1,500 new APIs.
- Full access to the camera.
- Date and address “data detectors.”
- Background audio (think Pandora).
- Background VoIP (think Skype).
- Background location data, both with live GPS for backgrounded turn-by-turn, and cell tower-based for lower power draw.
- Local notifications. Like push notifications, but sends a notification straight from the app without needing a push notification server, perfect for an alarm, for instance.
- Fast app switching. Saves the state of an app and resumes it from where you left off, without dwelling in memory.
- 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.
Source: Engadget
UPDATE: Download the iPhone SDK 4 here!