The newest release of the iPhone operating system, the re-branded iOS 4, launched last week from Apple’s busy servers. According to Apple, iOS 4 works with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G (but not all new features are supported on older hardware). The update will also install on second and third generation iPod Touch devices.
As with all major software upgrades, be sure to backup your current environment using iTunes before proceeding with the installation. This Apple knowledge base article describes the process in detail.
The upgrade process is also managed in iTunes and took a fair amount of time to complete on an iPhone 3GS. Reports of slowness and instability on older hardware were confirmed on one test 3G unit we tried, but others report no issues.
So what do you get after upgrading? Some key features:
- Folders – works as advertised and helps reduce the number of pages you need to scroll through to find the app you need.
- Mail Improvements – welcome options for combined inbox and threaded discussions.
- Multitasking (3GS and 4 only) – double-click the home button to reveal a row of other running apps you can switch to right away. Might take some time to get used to this one.
- Home screen wallpaper (3GS and 4 only) – purely cosmetic, but nice in day-to-day use.
- iBooks app – just like the iPad version, only smaller. Bookmarks are supposed to sync between the two versions, but it doesn’t seem like one knows what the other actually holds as far as books go.
- Camera – older hardware gets the digital zoom feature, but quality is, well, like a digital zoom.
- Bluetooth keyboard support – haven’t tried this, but could be useful.
The new iPhone 4 hardware enhances some features of iOS, such as FaceTime video conferencing, improved camera performance, HD video support/editing and the high-quality retina display.
To find out more about how to utilize the iPhone platform in your organization, call your 318 account manager today, or email sales@318.com for more information.
