iPhone OS 4.0: More Than We Expected

Wow.. Color us impressed. In one of the lower key Apple events (considering it came on the heels of the iPad launch) Apple laid out the new bells and whistles in iPhone OS 4.0 while making a preview available to developers today, and the OS available this summer.

Highlights include:

Full access to the still/video camera for developers.

Bluetooth keyboard support

Multitasking (without the battery drain, according to Jobs)

GPS apps can continue to give you directions, even after you "quit" them via multitasking

Also, receive skype calls anytime, even with the phone locked!

Folder hierarchy/organization for apps: group apps together as you like.

Buy once, read anywhere (iPad, iPhone, etc) from the iBookstore

Open mail attachments in other apps.

Also, an interesting development with iAds: Apple will integrate the ad system into the OS itself, and sell/host the ads, keeping 40% of the cut. Look out Google. (we'll talk more about this in another article.)

The major downside is to utilize all the features, you'll need an iPhone 3Gs, or iPod Touch 3rd gen. Jobs says some of the features will work on the iPhone 3G and 2nd Gen touch, but not, notably, multitasking. And if you ran out and bought an iPad, it looks like you'll be waiting until the fall for the new OS.

We shouldn't expect any operating system to be backwards-compatible forever, but it looks like the ground rules have been set, and to stay up-to-date in the mobile OS arena, you'll need new hardware much more frequently than on the Mac.

Comments

[macgirl]

Finally! A bunch of features that make the iPhone worth the money. Might need to upgrade for the multitasking now..

[Gary]

I was planning on upgrading this summer anyway. Can't waiting for the new OS and phone