Complete feature guide to Apple’s iOS 5.1 software update for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Apple typically ships iOS x.1 updates with new iPod touches in the fall and includes several new, fairly nifty features. Last year, however, there was no new iPod touch and so iOS 5.1 comes to us in the spring with the new iPad. The first two iPads shipped with iOS 3.2, which introduced the iPad-sized interface to iOS, and iOS 4.2 which re-unified the platform and brought iOS 4 features to the iPad for the first time. iOS 5.1 is nowhere near as ambitious, nor does it need to be. The interface has been introduced, the platform re-unified, the heavy lifting is done. So it is iOS 5.1 falls decidedly on the modest side of point release updates, with only a few, small changes and enhancements (and one arguable feature reduction). Maybe that's also because iOS 5 was such a huge update, or they've saving more for a potential iOS 5.2 later this spring or summer, or iOS 6 this fall.

In any case, with iOS 5.1 the angels -- and devils -- are in the details.

Previously on iOS

iOS 5.1 is based on the huge iOS 5 update that happened in October of 2011, so if you haven't already, make sure you read our massive iOS 5 walkthrough once you're finished this. iOS 5.1 is also based on the foundation of all versions of iOS that came before, so for completists sake, here they are.

• iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad walkthrough
• iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPad walkthrough
• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

iOS 5.1

If you don't have time to read all this now, hit play on the video below and we'll tell you everything you need to know about iOS 5.1 in just under 2 minutes.

iOS 5.1 feels like it had the longest beta period of any iOS version. The first beta arrived on November 28, 2011, the second on December 12, 2011, the third on January 9, 2012, and the Gold Master (GM)... never. Unlike any previous beta that I can remember, Apple didn't release any final build for developers to test against, they simply released the final build for everyone on March 7, 2012, as part of the new iPad event. That neatly put an end to any hope that the especially long beta period would lead to a plethora of new features. Indeed, there are only a few.

Lock screen fast camera access (iPhone and iPod touch only)

With iOS 5, double-clicking the Home button caused a camera icon to pop up on the lock screen to the right of the Slide to Unlock control. Tapping the camera icon sent you straight to the Camera app (even if your iPhone was passcode locked). It was a fast way to take a picture, but apparently it wasn't fast enough. With iOS 5.1 the camera icon is always on the Lock screen, always to the right of the Slide to Unlock control. Instead of tapping it, however, all you have to do is swipe up to "lift away" the Lock screen and reveal the Camera app.

While in the Camera app, you can take pictures and tap through to the Camera roll and see any of the photos you've taken, but if your iPhone is passcode locked that's all you can see. (If it's not passcode locked, you can click the Home button and use your iPhone as if you'd unlocked it normally).

When you're done, or if you choose not to take any photos, you can swipe down from the status bar to "pull down" the Lock screen back into place. (It's the same gesture as you'd used to access Notification Center.)

Siri

Apple's contextually aware voice controlled assistant, Siri, remains in beta some five months after it was first released. And that's a good thing. Voice control requires a ton of user data and Apple's not doubt collecting and analyzing as much as they can to make the service better. Since Siri still fails on occasion -- though it at least tells you when it fails, unlike dictation which simply returns to cursor, laughing at you -- I'm happy they're taking their time. They need to get it right more than they need to get it right now.

Japanese support (iPhone 4S only)

With iOS 5.1, Apple has added a single, solitary new language to Siri. It's not English (Scottish), so Siri still won't understand "jammy dodger" or "chip butty", and it's not any other English localization or Romantic language like Italian. It's Japanese, the first Asian language to be supported.

Dictation (iPad 3rd generation only)

The new iPad (3rd generation) didn't get full-on Siri support, perhaps because of the challenges involved in porting the user interface over. However, the new iPad did get the very useful Dictation feature, which handles speech to text input anywhere keyboard entry is possible, including built-in apps and App Store apps.

To activate Dictation, just tap the microphone icon on the keyboard.

Home screen

The iPhone home screen received one of the most notorious updates in recent history, and also lost some workaround functionality that many power users considered extremely convenient.

Geo-fencing indicator

iOS previously added a small, northeast pointing arrow to the status bar to inform users when location-based services were running, either actively in an app like Maps, or in the background like turn-by-turn navigation or Find my Friends. iOS 5.1 adds a new variation to this icon -- an outline form that indicates a geo-fence has been established. For example, if you've used Reminders to set up an alert for when you leave or arrive at a specific location.

4G indicator (AT&T iPhone 4S only)

Apple has changed the AT&T indicator in the top left corner to read 4G instead of 3G.

While 4G is often thought to identify the next-generation LTE networks that can reach 72+ mbps, marketing has overcome morals and T-Mobile, AT&T, and others have begun to classify anything HSPA+ 14.4 or above as 4G. Since some versions of HSPA+ can reach as high as 42 mbps, a case could be made that these networks offer "4G-like" speeds. However, they're still using 3G technology to do it, which makes the marketing a fairly consumer-hostile thing to do. It may be easier for carriers to print 4G on boxes or change status bar graphics than to build actual LTE networks, but it confuses customers and ultimately undermines trust.

Shame on you.

Note: Other carriers with similar or even better HSPA+ networks than AT&T still have indicators reading 3G.

Settings Shortcuts

iOS 5 surfaced URL schemes for Settings. By adding those URLs to the Home screen as icons, users could quickly tap into brightness controls, Wi-Fi toggles, Bluetooth toggles, etc. It was awkward and an obvious work-around, but convenient. It was also apparently a security risk and something Apple seems not to have meant to surface for the general public. iOS 5.1 no longer surfaces URL schemes for Settings.

Photos

There's only one major change to the Photos app in iOS 5.1, but it's an important one for iCloud users.

Photo Stream individual photo deletion

Originally Photo Stream was an all or nothing proposition. If it was on, any photo you took, no matter how private, or a friend took, even as a prank, would be stuck in your Photo Stream for 30 days or 1000 photos, whichever came first. You could turn it off, or delete the entire Photo Stream, but you couldn't delete individual photos.

Now you can. Just select the photo, tap the Action button, tap delete, and confirm.

Camera

While iOS 4.1 brought HDR photos, and there were rumors that a panorama mode was hidden in iOS 5, no such feature has appeared in iOS 5.1. In addition to the aforementioned fast Camera access from the Lock screen, iOS 5.1 adds a small update for the iPhone camera and something more substantial for the iPad.

Face detection (iPhone only)

While face detection itself remains the same, able to discern up to 10 individual faces, the Camera app will now highlight all of those faces, not just the most prominent. It might be more accurate, but it can also be more cluttered.

New Camera app (iPad 2 and iPad (3rd generation) only)

iPad 2 and the new iPad get an entirely new Camera user interface with iOS 5.1, one that better suits the bigger screen. All the controls remain the same, if rendered differently now. In broad strokes, it makes the bar across the screen transparent, moves the Grid option to the bar, and swaps the Camera shutter button to the side, floating it over the live view.

For the new iPad (3rd generation), many of the iPhone 4S Camera app features have also been added, including facial recognition, 1080p video recording, image stabilization, and Apple A5X chipset based digital signal processing.

Videos

There's no way for a software update to fix the anemic speakers included with the iPad, but there is a way for them to address part of the problem. With iOS 5.1, Apple does just that.

TV and movie audio (iPad only)

According to Apple, iOS 5 makes the audio for both TV shows and movies both louder and clearer.

Native 1080p playback (iPad 3rd generation only)

Thanks to the incredibly dense 2048x1536 Retina display on the new iPad, the Videos app has been update to include support for playing 1080p TV shows an movies in full resolution. (iPhone 4S and iPad 2 have been able to load 1080p content, but downsampled it to fit their smaller screen resolutions for playback.)

• 1080p iTunes video: Is the difference in image quality worth the difference in file size?

iTunes Store

Yes, Ping is still there in the iTunes Store app. There are a couple of new features there as well, mainly to support Apple's new content offerings and to expand on Apple's iCloud integration.

1080p content

To compliment the new iPad and the new Apple TV's ability to play back 1080p content at full resolution, the iTunes store now sells 1080p content. It's not specific to iOS 5.1, but the feature was added at the same time so we're noting it here.

(Note: U.S. only right now.)

Movies in the Cloud

iTunes now offers the ability to re-download previously purchased iTunes movies. Previously, you could re-download music and TV shows, so now the circle is pretty much complete. As with 1080p content, this isn't exclusive to iOS 5 but the time coincided nicely.

Just tap the Purchased tab on the bottom of the screen and then choose which type of media you want to re-download. You can either view All your previous purchases or just the ones Not On This iPhone/iPod/iPad. You'll be given an alphabetical list of songs, topped by options for All Songs and Recent Purchases. All Songs can be further filtered by Most Recent, Song Name, and Artist Name. Tap the iCloud Download icon to start re-downloading.

(Note: U.S only right now.)

App Store

While not exclusive to iOS 5.1, Apple did make an important change to the App Store and it's worth noting here.

50MB download limit

At the same time Apple released iOS 5.1, they increased the iTunes cellular data download limit to 50MB. This is up from 20MB, which itself was an increase from the original 10MB limit. This may or may not be enough to enable modest (i.e., non-game) universal apps with iPad retina graphics to be download over-the-air (OTA).

When an app passes the cellular data download limit, users can no longer buy or re-install it when on the go, away from Wi-Fi, which is inconvenient.

60MB would have been better, but 50MB is a marked improvement none-the-less.

Settings

While Settings typically gets a lot of additions to support new iOS features, iOS 5.1 didn't get a lot of new features to support. So, new Settings are thin this time around.

Wallpapers (iPad only)

The iPhone and iPod touch get left out in the cold, but the iPad scores four new, water themed wallpapers. The new ones, in order from top left, show an ocean horizon, waves gently rolling up on a beach, due on the grass, and rippled in a pool.

General: Siri (iPhone 4S only)

iOS 5.1 on the iPhone 4S adds Japanese as an option for Siri.

General: Network (iPhone only)

Removed in iOS 5, the Enable 3G toggle makes a triumphant return in iOS 5.1.

(Note: Not everyone is seeing it. I have it on Rogers so it may vary based on the carrier settings.)

Safari

Perhaps in an effort to help mainstream users figure out just what to do when confronted with a blank browser, Safari has added the text "Go to this address" to the URL address bar.

Clock

In iOS 5.1, the Clock app remains iPhone and iPod touch only (sorry, iPad users), but continues the trend of small, incremental improvements.

Timer (iPhone and iPod touch only)

iOS 5 renamed the iPod app to the Music app, but left the Clock timer with a function called "Sleep iPod". Since it's been able to automatically end more types of audio than just the built-in music player for a while now, that label was inaccurate on many levels. Apple's now fixed things by renaming it to "Stop Playing".

Music

Apple's new iCloud gets integrated with their old recommendation engine in the iOS 5.1 Music app, and the iPad finally becomes a first class podcast citizen.

Podcast controls (iPad only)

With iOS 5.1, the iPad gets the same podcast controls the iPhone and iPod touch have been enjoying for years. Just tap the button to vary playback speed between 1/2, 1x, and 2x, or to jump back at 30 second intervals to re-listen to anything you may have missed.

Genius Mixes and playlists for iTunes Match

If you subscribe to Apple's iTunes Match music locker service, you can now use Genius Mixes and Genius playlists with your iTunes Match music.

iPhoto

While not built in to iOS 5.1, Apple's iPhoto was released alongside iOS 5.1. Taken together with GarageBand and iMovie, it completes Apple's move to bring their desktop iLife suite from desktop to mobile. With powerful, touch-based image editing options, while not perfect (it lacks any form of useful syncing options for photos or non-destructive edits), it further shows the content-creation potential of the iOS platform.

• iPhoto review

Pricing and Availability

iOS 5.1 is was released as a free update to all supported devices on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Although not all features are supported on all devices -- or all generations of all devices -- iOS 5.1 can be installed on the following:

• iPhone 4S (2011)
• iPhone 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPhone 3GS (2009, 2010, and 2011)
• iPod touch 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPod touch 3 (2009)
• iPad 2 (2011)
• iPad (2010)

Should you update?

Yes, absolutely and immediately with the usual caveats. If you're on older hardware like iPhone 3GS and you're reading this just as iOS 5.1 becomes available, you might want to wait a couple of weeks and make sure there aren't any reports of excessive sluggishness or other issues. Second, if you're jailbroken and don't want to lose your jailbreak entirely, or have to rely on a tethered Jailbreak, you might want to wait until a nicely packaged iOS 5.1 jailbreak is released for your device (the new iPad, iPad 2, and iPhone 4S might take a while).

Otherwise this is a very small update that doesn't change very much but does improve several things from iOS 5 and is definitely worth downloading and installing post haste.

How to update

You can update to iOS 5.1 either via iTunes or directly on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over-the-air (OTA). Generally speaking, OTA updates are better because a) since they only include the changes (delta/bit differential), they're smaller and faster to download, and b) the update happens in-place, without having to backup and then restore your device.

• How to update your iPhone or iPad software over the air (OTA)
• How to update your iPhone or iPad software using iTunes

Help and discussion

For more on iOS, check out the iMore forums. Whether you just want to discuss features, need help with bugs or other issues, or enjoy helping out other users, it's great to get involved with the community.

• iOS 5 forum

Conclusion

iOS 5.1 was one of the longest betas, one of the fastest releases, and one smallest, feature-wise, we've seen to date. What, if anything, that suggests about the iOS roadmap is really hard to say. If iOS 6 keeps to last year's pattern, we won't even see a beta until Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June or July. That leaves plenty of time for an iOS 5.2 if Apple chooses to develop and release one.

If not, iOS 5 itself was such a major update, the new iPad such a phenomenal piece of hardware, and new apps like iPhoto for iOS doing so much of the heavy lifting these days, Apple might just be able to get away with it.

"Tweetbot has made the leap from iPhone to iPad and brought with it's excellent user-interface, best-in-class notifications, and powerful yet accessible feature set."

Twitter is the social network antithesis of Facebook -- limited amounts of content, no obligation to follow those who follow you, and most of the communication is done out in the open by default. Twitter launched around the same time as iOS, and the two platforms immediately seemed made for each other (something which became official with iOS 5 Twitter integration.)

Tweetbot came out only in the last year but has quickly become one of the most popular and most powerful Twitter apps on the iPhone, going so far as to sweep the social network category in both iMore's readers choice, and editors choice awards. Now it comes to the iPad with the same distinctive, mecha-inspired interface, but not as a universal binary -- meaning you have to pay for the iPad version separately, even if you own the iPhone version.

It's only $2.99, which is less than the price of most burgers, but is Tweetbot worth it? Do the features and functionality that rocked the iPhone scale to match the bigger iPad screen?

Setup

Because Tweebot uses iOS 5 Twitter integration, you're only one "Authorize" tap away from getting started.

Thanks to support for native iOS 5 Twitter integration, setting up Tweetbot for iPad is as simple as tapping "okay" to the system popup requesting the access. Boom. All the accounts you've logged into in Settings.app are ready and waiting in Tweetbot.

Web-based authorization was always a pain, so this made for a delightful first impression.

Browsing for tweets

Twitter neatly organizes your navigation tabs in the sidebar and your tweets (or content) to the right

If you've ever used Tweetbot for iPhone, the biggest change you'll have to get used to is also one of the easiest changes to get used to -- instead of timeline, @mentions, messages, and the other tabs along the bottom of your tweet list, you now have them all available and un-nested in a handy sidebar. In landscape mode they're fully expanded, with text labels and unread counts (where applicable), and in portrait mode they're reduced to icons only but are no less easy to get to.

To switch accounts, just tap the tab at the top left with your name and avatar.

Simply tap your avatar to switch and manage accounts

If you're new to Tweetbot, the sidebar is how you control what you're looking at:

• Timeline shows you the tweets of everyone you follow
• @Mentions shows any public messages or replies other users have sent you
• Messages shows any private, direct messages (DMs) other uses have sent you
• Favorites lists the tweets you've marked as memorable
• Search lets you quickly find terms, people, #hastags and current trends (popular topics)
• Profile shows your information, including bio, locations, and link, as well as follower, following, listed, and tweets counts, and your most recent tweets.
• Lists shows your own lists, or groups of other users you've set up
• Retweets shows your tweets that others have retweeted (forwarded on to their followers), tweets you retweeted (forwarded on to your followers), and you tweets, retweeted (tweets of yours that have been forwarded on by others).
• Mute filters lets you temporarily and selectively suppress other users (such as the guy from work you can't unfollow but who suddenly feels compelled to tweet an entire 2-day cricket match!), specific hashtags (like an event you don't want spoiled or just find annoying), and clients (for example, if you don't want to see any Instagram pictures)
• Settings, which lets to toggle and customize all the various options, including a lot of what appears in the sidebar.

The bulk of the screen is taken up by the tweets themselves. The rather heavy looking title bar on top tells you what you're looking at at any given time. Tapping the list button at the top left gives you quick access to your Twitter lists. Tapping the compose button at the right opens up a new tweet, ready for you to write.

The layout was well thought out and it works.

Interacting with tweets

Tapping a tweet brings up all sort of options and actions

The tweets themselves function almost identically to Tweetbot for iPhone. Tap a tweet to get option to:

• Reply (or reply to all)
• Retweet (or quote a tweet)
• Favorite (or unfavorite)
• Get a popup list of actions (including Read Later services like Instapaper, Pinboard, Readability, or Read it Later), copy the link to the tweet, copy the contents of the tweet, email the tweet, or translate the tweet if it isn't in a language you understand.
• Get a detail view, which includes the tweet by itself, a tab to get to the user's profile, a list of replies to the tweet, a list of users who retweeted the tweet, and a button to go to the favstar.fm webpage for the tweet (to track who favorited or retweeted the tweet)

For more advanced users, Tweetbot gestures are also available on the iPad. Just swipe from left to right on a tweet to bring a view of the complete conversation, in context, if applicable, and swipe for right to left to bring up a list of all replies to a tweet, again if applicable.

Gestures are inherently hard to discover, but Tweetbot does a great job using them as shortcuts for those who do discover them, but leaving everything just as accessible via the tap-through buttons and tabs.

Composing tweets

While the compose window doesn't let you quickly refer back to any tweets, it does have a good set of options, well laid out.

With a tap of the compose button or quote button, you're ready to type. And that's about it. Unlike some other Twitter apps, in Tweetbot for iPad the timelines all disappear, and the text doesn't stay persistent if you cancel out of the new tweet sheet (though you can save as a draft). If you were replying to a tweet, that tweet is shown below the typing area, which is very now.

It keeps the screen clear and focused, but it does make it slightly more cumbersome for those who like to refer back to other tweets and content.

Buttons along the top let you easily add location, auto-complete @usernames and #hashtag trends, and add pictures or video. The buttons aren't the iOS default location arrow, @ symbol or # hashtag symbol proper, but rather icons of a compass, bust, and tag, which may make them less immediately recognizable but certainly not impenetrable.

While not easy to discover, users with multiple accounts can switch by tapping the avatar.

Speaking of which, you can switch accounts by tapping your avatar. New users probably don't have multiple accounts, so the hidden nature of this feature isn't a show-stopper, but throwing a visual bone our way certainly wouldn't hurt.

If you have previous drafts, you can access them via the drafts button at the top right.

Searching for tweets

The search page lets you easily look for text, people, and trends.

Tap the search tab and your timeline is replaced by a search box, a Find People tab, a list of saved searches, and a list of worldwide trends (you can change that to country-specific trends in Settings). Having to tap through again to search for people may seem like a wasted step, but the find people search page includes a lot of additional options, like finding followers or people your following, as well as a list of interests such as music, sports, entertainment, and much, much more.

Finding people is just one extra tap away

While Tapbots' implementation is good, Twitter focuses on real-time results which often means older tweets are frustratingly unavailable, even if you know exactly what you're looking for. Also, tapping or searching for any trending topic is sometimes just as likely to produce an overwhelming abundance of useless, rather than valuable results. Again, Twitter's fault, not Tapbots.

Muting tweets

If someone repeatedly makes fun of your math skills, or Canadian accent, you can give them a time out.

We've all been there -- someone whose tweets we otherwise enjoy has gone off the deep end about sports, religion, politics, is spoiling a movie or TV show, has gotten drunk or is simply drowning out everything else in your timeline. You either can't (boss, brother-in-law) or don't want to unfollow them. That's where mute filters come in. They're like time-outs for Twitter, and Tweetbot excels at them.

You can mute or un-mute any user, at any time, by hitting the options button (which looks just like the location button), above their profile. You can choose to mute for a day, a week, a month, or forever. Once muted, the user appears under people in the mute filters tab.

Likewise, when #winning is driving you to #drinking, you can put it on pause.

You can also mute based on #hashtags, to stop anyone from ruining the game or the show, or otherwise filling your timeline with stuff you'd really rather not see. To mute or un-mute a #hashtag, just tap and hold down on it when you see it in the timeline.

You can even mute your boss when he won't stop tweeting his Smurf Village points... or whatever.

If there's a particular service or platform you really don't care for either for some reason, you can tap edit, tap + (add), and choose from a long list of easily mutable clients. Turning off tons of Instagrams, or game scores, or social marketers who live in TweetDeck are all potential uses, though you'll likely miss some good stuff in the process.

Mute filters aren't something everyone uses, but Tweetbot makes them so easy, I'm betting many more are about to start.

Settings

Settings are contained in the app, in an easy to access popup

To say Tweetbot has a plethora of settings is almost an understatement. There's everything here from sounds (all, notifications, none), to display (font size, display name, date format, new tweets bar) to what's in the navigation sidebar (you can toggle off everything but timeline, mentions, and messages), to quote format (standard, old style re-tweets, or via), triple-tap shortcut (set it to reply, retweet, favorite, translate, or launch Favstar), to post in background.

And that's just the top level stuff. Phew.

Push notifications

Push notification options abound. Almost everything you can think of. Almost too much...

Account settings open the door Tweetbot's phenomenal push notifications implementation. Not only can you turn on notifications for the standard @mentions (either everyone or just those you follow), or direct messages, but you can get notifications for retweets, favorites, follows, when you're added to lists, or when your lists are subscribed to.

... Except for the fantastic sleep options that let you turn them off when it's time for you to turn off.

It's almost too much, or it would be if Tweetbot for iPad didn't also provide sleep options. Basically, you can tell Tweetbot to suppress all push notifications during certain hours of the day or night (depending on your schedule). You tell them when to go silent and when to come back on, and that's what they do.

If you're frantically waiting for an incredibly urgent tweet, and are paranoid the system will choose that exact moment to go down, you can even see when the last notification came in, and hit a test button and make sure it's still working.

It's not anything Tweetbot for iPhone users haven't been enjoying for a while, but that doesn't make it any less superb on the iPad.

Services

You can customize the services and there's support for Tweet Marker, Read Later, and Mobilizer.

All the usual services can be configured in Tweetbot for iPad, including your URL shortener of choice, image uploader, video uploader, Read Later host (they support Instapaper, Pinboard, Readability, and Read it Later), sync with Tweet Marker, and something akin to Safari's super clean, distraction free Reader mode with Mobilizer (including support for Google, Instapaper, and Readability).

Tweet Marker stands out, especially if you have Tweetbot or another app that supports it on your iPhone or other smartphone, or your desktop Twitter app.

The good

• Features enough to make any power user happy
• Clean and accessible enough for new users
• Exceptional notification implementation
• Distinctive, charming user-interface

The bad

• Some might find the user-interface too distinctive and heavy
• Not as information-dense as some other Twitter apps
• No theme support

The conclusion

Tweetbot has made the leap from iPhone to iPad and brought with it's excellent user-interface and best-in-class notifications. It's not Tweetbot re-imagined for the iPad, but it's Tweetbot brilliantly executed for the iPad. Powerful enough for the pro, accessible enough for the new user, it doesn't have the audacity of Twitter for iPhone, but it has much more functionality -- and everything needed to be the go-to Twitter client for the vast majority of iPad Twitter users.

2.99 - Download now

iOS 5 is perhaps Apple's most audacious update since iOS 2, which introduced nothing less than the App Store and MobileMe. The features are almost an embarrassment of riches, including unobtrusive Notifications, the carrier-consternating iMessage, Twitter integration, a location aware Reminders app, and an entirely new UI paradigm in the artificially intelligent Siri voice control system for iPhone 4S.

And for the first time what's happening on the outside is just as compelling -- iCloud. Apple called it "cutting the cord", severing the post-PC from the PC, and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from their subservience to Mac and Windows.

But is it truly transformation or just another bold yet ultimately evolutionary step forward? Let's find out.

Updates

• iOS 5.1 for iPhone and iPad update

Previously on iOS

iOS 5 adds new features to almost every existing app on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and introduces new apps as well. Still, iOS 5 is built on the foundation of what came before, so for previously introduced functionality, please see our previous walkthroughs.

• iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPad walkthrough
• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

iOS 5

iOS 5 includes new system-wide features like Siri for iPhone 4S, PC free, Notification Center, AirPlay Mirroring, and Twitter integration, new apps like Reminders and Newsstand, and tons of new features for existing apps like iMessage, photo editing, Reader and Reading List, and much, much more.

Apple's video above gives a good overview and I'm going to go over everything on an app-by-app, feature-by-feature basis below. But like I said at the beginning, this year iOS is only half the story...

iCloud

iCloud replaces MobileMe and iWork.com, and groups together functionality previously included in the iTunes, iBooks, and App Stores. It also does setup, backup, and restore, and a host of other things.

Unlike MobileMe, Apple has carefully avoided calling iCloud a sync service. Instead, they say it wirelessly stores your content on the server and then pushes it back down to all your devices. This probably better frames the relationship between cloud and devices. There's no single master copy of "truth" on the server, but coequal copies on every device, and on iCloud.com (which Apple notes is ad free. Zing). And just like with iOS, there's no end-user exposed file system. Your data no longer exists in folders like it did on iDisk. It exists in apps.

Storage capacity

Everyone gets 5GB of iCloud storage for free, and iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases aren't counted against that, nor are Photo Stream images. Mail, documents, accounts, settings, app data, Camera Roll, etc. do count, however. In case they count far more than your free 5GB allow, you can purchase more storage.

• 10GB for $20/year
• 20GB for $40/year
• 50GB for $100/year

Documents in the Cloud

When apps like Apple's own iWork suite, Numbers, Pages, and Keynote save copies of your files, those documents are stored on iCloud and pushed out to all your iOS, Mac, and Windows PC devices. Apple has made the same functionality available to 3rd party developers as well, so it's likely many if not most apps that can create and edit files will soon tie into Documents in the Cloud.

(Hopefully games will as well. Starting Angry Birds on iPhone and having to start over to play on iPad or Mac needs to be a thing of the past.)

It's not a Dropbox killer, or a name-your-favorite-sync-service-with-APIs killer of any kind. I can keep my home directory in Dropbox and use it like I use a filesystem, with the advantages of versioning and sync. iCloud doesn't -- and doesn't want -- to do any of that.

However, some apps that previously used Dropbox merely to sync documents may add iCloud as well or instead because it's built in, and I'm fine with that. It frees Dropbox up to be my file system.

Find my Friends

Find my iPhone has been folded into iCloud, and joining it is Find my Friends, a Google Latitude-like social location sharing service that takes pains to point out its better privacy and security. Like Find my iPhone, Find my Friends isn't built into iOS, but is available for free in the App Store [Link].

When you install it you'll be asked to allow it to use Location. It's pretty much useless without it. From the All tab you can see All your Friends and a list of specific friends and their current distance from you. Tap a friend to see their Info. Since it's integrated with Contacts, if you already have their details you'll see it here. If not, you'll be able to add them. Tap through to see their location on an embedded Map. You can even curl up the page to get the basic Map-style options. Tap All Your Friends and see the world light up.

If you don't have any friends yet, you'll be given the opportunity to invite some. Tap the Edit button on the top left to remove friends.

Under the Temporary tab you get a separate set of more constrained friends. These friends can have location sharing enabled for an hour, a day, a week -- whatever you decide. For example, your spouse or children might have permanent location sharing. A group of friends trying to find each other at a cafe might only have a couple hours of sharing.

The Me tab lets you see your own profile. Tap on your current location to see it on a map. Toggle Hide from Followers to go off grid for a while. You can also see a list of your followers and tap through to their Info.

Tap Account to sign in or out, choose from which Apple ID to send notifications, toggle Friend Request on or off, and tap through to get help.

The Requests tab lists friends who have invited you. Accepting shares your location with them. Inviting them back shares their location with you.

PC Free

Perhaps the single most profound change in iOS 5 is Apple's cutting of the iTunes cord. Never again will a Mac or Windows PC be required to activate, setup, or update a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (though you can still choose to do so if you wish.) From now on, you can activate, setup, and update directly on your device over the internet.

Other aspects of PC Free are more subtle but just as welcome, such as the ability to create photo albums and mail folders on-device. We'll cover those in the appropriate app sections; here's the big stuff.

Device Setup

When you turn on your new device, you'll now be presented with a screen that says iPhone, iPad touch, or iPad (depending on which device you're setting up). Just swipe to unlock and you're welcomed and invited to choose your preferred language. The most common language options will be immediately available but you can tap the down arrow to see others. Hit the Next button to pick. Apple will also provide you a default Country or Region based on where you bought your device, but you can tap Show More to expand the choices.

Interestingly, neither here nor in any later step are default choices pre-checked for you. You can't simply keep hitting Next to speed through. You have to look at the choices and tap one to check it before the Next button will even activate. Apple is forcing you to pay more attention than is often required on the web or in apps.

Next you're given a choice to globally enable or disable Location Services. Location Services use GPS, cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your device. This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like TomTom), check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Siri and Find my iPhone), etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you probably want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app’s geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation).

You'll need to connect to a Wi-Fi network to continue iCloud setup (if none is available, you'll have to switch to iTunes setup instead.) Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will then connect to Apple's servers to activate (the cord was cut from iTunes, not from Apple).

You have the choice to

• Setup as a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• Restore from an iCloud Backup
• Restore from an iTunes Backup

Set up as New

To set up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a new device, sign in with your Apple ID (or tap through to create one). If you have multiple Apple IDs, for example a MobileMe ID, an iTunes ID, an ID associated with FaceTime or something else, you'll have to choose which one you want to use. If you change your mind, you can login with a different ID later (and you can also login to different apps, like iTunes and iMessage, with separate IDs later). Agree to Apple's Terms and Conditions and Apple will setup your ID and ask if you want to use iCloud or not. If you do -- and most people should because it's 1) free for the base level service, and 2) highly functional -- you'll be asked to enable iCloud Backup -- and again, most people should. (It will create daily backups when you're connected to Wi-Fi.)

Decide whether or not you want to enable Find my iPhone to help trace lost or stolen devices, and then choose if you want to share diagnostic information with Apple to help them improve the iOS experience.

And you're done.

Restore from iCloud Backup

You can also choose to restore based on a previous iCloud Backup. You'll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Make sure it's the same Apple/iCloud ID that you used to make your previous backups. Agree to the Terms and Conditions and you'll be given a list of recent backups to choose from, including those of all iOS devices backed up to iCloud.

Pick your backup and iCloud will begin the restore. Then your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will restart, all your settings nicely back where you left them, and iTunes will begin to re-download all the apps you had installed when the backup was made. If you live in countries where iTunes in the Cloud is available, iTunes will also re-download all the iTunes music, TV shows, and iBooks that were previously on your device. (You need to stay on Wi-Fi for large files to re-download.)

For security reasons, iOS may also prompt you to set a Passcode Lock, and not wait for you to go find it in Settings on your own.

Software Update

Gone are the days when, after Apple released a software update, you had to rush back to your iTunes-equipped Windows or Mac PC, download a 500MB+ firmware file, backup your data, install the new OS version, and restore you data back to your device. You can now do all that, better and faster, right on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

When a Software Update is available, you'll get a notification popup. The Settings app will also get badged, just like Mail. To get your update, go to Settings, tap on General, tap on Software Updates, and if it isn't there waiting for you, tap on Check for Updates. When you see the update, tap Install.

The firmware will download and then your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will restart and update.

Apple is now doing bit-differential, or delta file updates. That means only the bits that have changed need to be downloaded, not the entire firmware anymore. The update also happens in place, so you don't need to backup and restore your data. Much more efficient and hence much faster.

Wi-Fi sync

If you do still want to sync with your home iTunes library but don't want to have to tether to your Windows or Mac PC over USB, you now have the option to sync over Wi-Fi as well. Wi-Fi sync needs to be enabled in the Settings app, and you need to sync with iTunes over USB at least once to set it up, and you need to be plugged into power throughout, but if none of that dissuades you, Zune-like Wi-Fi sync is finally yours.

Non-modal USB sync

If you do choose to keep syncing with iTunes over USB, or you sync occasionally over USB to move over large files, like movies, you can now continue to use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad while syncing. (Previously unlocking your device would cancel the sync.)

Multitasking Gestures (iPad 2 only)

Back in iOS 4.3 Apple introduced Multitasking Gestures as a beta feature for developers to test. In iOS 5 they're back and they're for everyone. They include 4 or 5 finger multitouch navigation gestures that complement rather than replace the Home Button functions. They do, however, reduce the amount of times you need to single or double click Home, which could reduce concerns of hardware wear and tear post iOS 4 multitasking.

The new gestures can be done with 4 or 5 fingers and resemble multitouch trackpad gestures available on Mac OS X since the introduction of the original MacBook Air in 2008 and expanded upon in the recent Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. They currently include

• Pinch all fingers in to exit an app and return to the Home Screen (identical to single-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe up from the bottom bezel to reveal the multitasking Fast App Switcher Dock (identical to double-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe sideways from left to right or right to left to move between recently open apps (similar to double-clicking the Home Button to reveal the Fast App Switcher and tapping on an app icon immediately to right).

The sideways swipe is interesting in that it allows you to go left or right whereas the Fast App Switcher reorders the recent app icons so you always go backwards in “time” to the right. It seems perceptively faster for a single app-back movement since there’s no carousel animation, yet you can only swipe back one app at a time whereas you can tap on any of 4 immediately available app icons in the Fast App Switcher and jump back 4 additional apps at a time.

Either way, once you get used to them they make moving around apps on an iPad 2 a breeze.

Siri (iPhone 4S only)

Siri is a natural language interface for iOS that combines powerful voice recognition (rumored to be powered by industry leader Nuance) and synthesized speech with a context-aware, artificially intelligent query and response engine designed to become your "virtual assistant". It replaces the previous Voice Control feature introduced with iOS 3 on the iPhone 3GS and is initiated the same way -- a long press and hold of the Home Button.

Siri launches as a beta and supports English (U.S., UK, and Australian), French, German. Apple urges users to talk to Siri the way they would another person, and to ask similar types of questions. Here's some of what Siri can do:

• Set up Reminders, Calendar appointments, and Clock alarms and timers.
• Send Texts, iMessages, and Emails
• Play Music
• Search for location based information like restaurant and business listings, and search for directions to locations
• Search Yelp (in the U.S.), Wolfram Alpha, and Google for information.
• Ask about Weather and Stocks
• Read your SMS/iMessage messages.
• Take dictation in any app.
• Silly questions. (Apple has actually programmed in funny responses to many of these.)

You can set relationships, so Siri knows who your spouse, parents, children, colleagues, etc. are, and even set a nickname for yourself so Siri knows what to call you.

More impressively, it can combine these functions together into interactions. Siri can read a message requesting a dinner date, search for a restaurant, get directions, send back a confirmation message, and add an appointment for the dinner, all as part of an interactive confirmation. Here are some examples of real-world things you can say to Siri.

• "Siri, remind me to call my mom at work when leave home." Siri will start a Reminder, set the departure location as your home address, determine which of your contacts is defined as your mother, and popup an alert to with your mom's work phone number ready to dial when you leave.
• "Siri, tell my boss I'll be there soon." Siri will get the contact that's defined as your boss, find the mobile phone number, and send her an SMS/iMessage with the content reading "I'll be there soon."
• "Siri, read my messages." Siri will read any new SMS or iMessages that have come in.
• "Siri, wake me up in 30 minutes." Siri will set a Clock timer that will go off In 30 minutes. (Hopefully when your nap is over.)
• "Siri, where can I get Italian for lunch?" Siri will search for nearby restaurants and show them to you on a map. In the U.S. it can also order them by Yelp ranking.
• "Siri, do I need a raincoat today?" Siri will check the weather, see If it's likely to rain, and let you know if you need to worry about Ig wet.
• "Siri, who starred In the movie Serenity?" Siri will search Wolfram Alpha and give you a cast list from the movie.
• "Siri, what's your favorite color?" Siri will give you one of several replies, likely that your language lacks the dimensions to properly describe the right shade of green.
• "Siri, tell me a joke." Siri might just start the one about the two iPhones that walked into a bar…

Siri will listen to and parse these and other questions, launch applications like Mail or Messages, search internet services like Yelp and Wolfram Alpha, and check the Weather or Stocks. It will then synthesize and speak a response, and if you ask a follow up question, it will remember the context and understand the next query and issue the follow up response accordingly.

Equally interesting is what it portents for Apple. Just like the App Store began the intermediation and exclusion of Google by offering users a better experience interacting with data in apps than via a web search, Siri continues it by theoretically making it easier and more enjoyable to engage in query/response with Siri than with Google. In typical fashion, Apple isn't building a search engine to compete with Google, they're building something to obsolete the current conception of search engines. And they're not doing it by becoming a walled garden -- there's no profit in that. They're doing it by becoming a walled gate with a multi-directional toll system.

Customer Insight is a hot industry topic for a reason -- if done well it lets you increase revenue per user, turn users into products you can sell to advertisers, and even turn suppliers into customers of their own data, and complementary and competing companies' data.

At least in theory. It remains to be seen how reliable and resilient it will prove when millions of new iPhone 4S users start pounding on it. Whether it's the best new feature in iOS 5 and the future of user input, or just the best new feature no one will use for input remains to be seen.

Note: Apple says additional language and feature support will be coming to Siri in the future.

Dictation

In addition to Siri's query/response engine, it also includes speech-to-text functionality. This manifests as a microphone key to the left of the space bar that, when tapped, brings up an speech input interface. Talk, tap Done, and Apple will parse what you said on their servers and return text to built in apps like Mail or Messages, or any App Store app that supports keyboard entry, including Facebook, Keynote, etc.

Siri also understands symbols, punctuation and other special characters, like period and question mark, "open parenthesis" and "close square bracket", and "new line" and "new paragraph", provided you use their proper name.

Notifications

iOS 5 brings non-interruptive, less intrusive notification alerts to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Similar to how Android's notification tray works, or the basic functionality of the LockInfo Jailbreak app, it's perhaps not quite as elegant as webOS' system but it's a huge leap forward from iOS' previous implementation.

Notifications are presented in one of three different ways:

• Lock Screen Info
• Notification Center
• Notification Banners

All of the implementations show an icon of the app issuing the alert to the left and a brief except of the alert content to the right, but work in slightly different ways.

Lock Screen Info

Lock Screen Info is the most complex of the three. When an alert comes in, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch wakes briefly from sleep to show you the notification.

• If it's a single notification, you get a single popup.
• If it's multiple notifications, you get a stacked list view.
• If it's a single notification but there have been previous unread notifications, you get a single popup but can view the complete list by swiping down from the time/date bar (a small gripper icon indicates when this is possible.)
• If it's a notification along with a secondary action, for example Snooze for an alarm notification, a secondary button will also appear for that action.

Touching and dragging the icon unlocks the device and sends you to the app to view the information. Unlocking the device clears all past notifications from Lock Screen info.

Notification Center

When your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is unlocked, Notification Center can be revealed by swiping downwards from the status bar. It can be dismissed by swiping back up from the small gripper icon at the button of the screen.

Notification Center proper brings widgets of a sort to iPhone and iPod touch, though currently only Apple's own Weather and Stocks app are enabled. Weather shows the current local or default temperature, hi and low, and precipitation, if any. Stocks shows a horizontally scrolling ticker of recent quotes and the delta changes since the previous close. Tapping on either one takes you to the full app.

Just like iPad has no Weather or Stocks apps, it has no widgets in Notification Center.

Beneath the widgets is the notification list. Each list is headed by the corresponding app icon and name to the left, and a far-too-tiny X icon to the right. Tapping the X icon clears all notifications for that app. Tapping anywhere on the alert will take you to the app to view the information. You can control which apps and how many notifications per app are displayed in Settings.

This is lightyears beyond where iOS notifications were before. Balancing the desire of power users for powerful notifications with the desire of casual users to avoid constant interruption is tricky. Notifications does a good job of it and it raises intriguing possibilities for the future. Developer access to the widget system, media controls in Notification Center as opposed to the Fast App Switcher, radio controls for fast Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabling/disabling like SBSettings perhaps? Apple values simplicity, but they're not afraid of hiding layers of sophistication beneath it.

Notification Banners

Notification Banners appear appear briefly at the top of the screen whenever your device is unlocked, and are animated with a roll down, roll back up effect. Tapping a Notification Banner sends you to the app that issued the alert and shows you the information. While far less obtrusive than the old-style popup notifications, the Banners can still obscure information and cover buttons, and when they roll-down unexpectedly can cause you to accidentally tap them rather then the top bar or button you'd begun to tap. Hopefully, as Apple matures the notification system and developers update their apps to support iOS 5, this issue will diminish.

If they're really getting in your way, you can either touch, pull slightly, and flick them away, or swipe from right to left to dismiss them more quickly.

Note: Some apps will still default to old style popups to really get your attention, like Clock alarms and Calendar appointment alerts. You can manually assign your preference on an app-by-app basis in Settings.

Again, far better than what came before, yet there's room for more to come. For example, the ability to tap and instantly reply to Messages without having to leave the current app -- like BiteSMS?

Notification Accessibility

iOS 5 also adds new accessibility features that allow the camera's LED flash to be used to signal notifications. Vibration patterns, including custom vibration patterns, can also be assigned and created to better identify incoming notifications, such as phone calls. These features are accessible in the Settings app.

Twitter

Twitter, the 140-character social network, has been integrated into iOS 5 at the system level. This means that everywhere you could previous Share content via Mail or Messages, you can also now choose to Share by way of a Tweet. Rather than handing you off to the official Twitter app, however, just like Mail and Messages are embedded views, so are the new tweet sheets. Just fill them out, choose if you want to add your location, and tweet away.

AirPlay Mirroring (iPad 2 and iPhone 4S only)

AirPlay was introduced with iOS 4.2 and allowed any video using Apple's standard media control to beam image and sound over a local Wi-Fi network to an Apple TV for viewing on the big screen. It was... limited in its initial release but iOS 4.3 brought increased support for Apple's Photo app and added support for 3rd party apps, and in general made it a solid, enjoyable feature. (Especially with on-the-fly transcoders like Air Video)

With iOS 5, Apple brings AirPlay Mirroring to iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. AirPlay mirroring lets iOS share it's screen, any screen of any app, to the Apple TV over Wi-Fi.

iPhone 4S and iOS 5 brings AirPlay mirroring to the iPhone. Because Apple decided against adding a dual core Apple A5 chipset to the 2011 iPod touch, that's now the only device left out in the cold when it comes to mirroring.

While on the surface AirPlay mirroring might not seem like a major feature, it allows the personal, intimate experiences of everything from gaming to FaceTime to become social, group activities, and allows videos and presentations to be shared by the whole family or entire meeting.

A keynote presentation projected in the boardroom, or a group of friends playing a big screen boardgames are just some of the obvious uses. As companies like Firemint continue to push the envelope with concepts like multiple-device-to-Apple-TV Party Play -- where iPhone 4S and iPad become controllers for group gaming, an a serious threat to traditional consoles in the casual space.

To activate AirPlay Mirroring, start the app you want to mirror, double tap the Home Button to bring up the Fast App Switcher, swipe across the media controls, tap the Air Play button, and select Apple TV as the source.

Dictionary

Previously embedded only in Apple's iBooks, with iOS 5 the entire system has access to a built in dictionary. Unfortunately, I'm lead to believe developers don't have access to it yet for App Store apps, but hopefully that will change in the future.

Keyboard (iPad only)

With iOS 5, iPad gains the ability to not only undock the keyboard and slide it up and down, but to split it apart into two half-keyboards for easier thumb-typing. Just touch and hold the Keyboard button at the bottom right of the keyboard to popup the dock/undock and split/merge menu, or just touch it at both sides and pull it apart or put it back together again. (Yes, it's very cathartic.)

Home Screen

Compared to iOS 4's Fast App Switcher and Folders, iOS 5 changes either transcend just the Home Screen (Notification Center's Lock Screen info) or blur the boundaries between Home Screen and app (Newstand). Still, there are a few additions that can probably be safely categorized under Home Screen.

Multiple app installs

Instead of Apps being installed one by one, multiple apps can now be downloaded and installed simultaneously.

Assistive Touch

iOS' already industry leading accessibility has been augmented with a gesture based control panel called AssistiveTouch that can reproduce all the functionality of the existing hardware buttons, and much more.

Once turned on in Settings, the control panel can be activated by tapping the overlay on screen. It pops up with a menu containing Gestures, Favorites, Devices, and Home. Gestures has a sub menu for 2, 3, 4, and 5 finger gestures, and once you choose a quantity, blue circles in the appropriate amount appear on screen. Favorites contains defaults like Pinch and Swipe, and any custom gestures you've created. Device replicates the hardware features such as Rotate Screen, Lock Screen, Mute/Unmute, Volume Up/Volume Up, and Shake.

While some may think this heralds Apple ditching hardware buttons, remember, you would still need a way to reset your device if it locks up, to turn off the ringer or change volume if it's in your pocket or purse, and to keep iOS accessible for children and people form whom the Home Button is easy and complex UI and gestures are a barrier to entry.

Still, this could turn out to be a very interesting addition to iOS 5, especially for advanced users who want to have a software-based interface. Most importantly, it shows that Apple -- who is already incredibly far ahead of the competition when it comes to accessibility -- is not slowing down.

Messages

The biggest change to Messages is one that's as almost invisible as it is profound. Messages began as SMS, an in the beginning only offered text message functionality. In iOS 3 internationally and iOS 4 in the US, Apple renamed is Messages and added MMS functionality. Now, in iOS 5, Apple has replicated the carriers' traditional cash cow by providing a method to send text and multimedia via iMessages -- securely encrypted -- over the Wi-Fi and cellular data networks.

Messages neatly handles both traditional SMS/MMS messages and iMessages, with iMessages integrated so seamlessly that only the color and faded text -- green for traditional SMS/MMS and blue for iMessages betray which is in use at any given time.

There is one large limitation to iMessages, however, and for some users it might be a deal-breaker -- it only works between iOS devices. That hasn't stopped BlackBerry's BBM from become a platform-locking success, but BBM has been around much longer and offers far, far more functionality.

That's not to say it doesn't have some BBM-like functionality. You can see delivery status and, if enabled in Settings, read receipts as well. You can see, via ellipses, when someone is in the midst of responding. Also, for users with limited text plans, especially expensive international text plans, and lots of friends on iOS, iMessage will be welcome.

Like FaceTime before it, iMessages uses an Apple ID-registered email address as a method of identification. This also means, like FaceTime before it, iMessages is available to iPad and iPod touch users. Yes, they get the iOS Messages app for the first time. Due to the data-centric rather than telephony-centric method of transmission, they can now send and receive iMessages from other iOS users when and where they never could -- and still can't -- SMS or MMS.

The interface conventions are a little different. iPhone has a single pane view, for example, so hitting the edit button in the contact list view lets you delete whole conversations and in the conversation view allows you to delete or forward individual messages (bubbles). On iPad, both contact list and conversations are visible at the same time so the edit button handles conversations and individual message managements is switched over, strangely, to the action button. (You can also pop up and edit contact info via the contact button, topmost right.)

However, it does mean users with more than one iOS device registered on the same iMessages Apple ID, they can start a conversation on their iPhone while out and about and continue it on their iPad when home on the couch.

In a nice touch, you can now swipe down to dismiss the keyboard and read your messages full screen.

Calendar

With iOS 5, the Calendar app gets a couple of new features that users have asking for for a while now, including new views, more consistent iOS-style navigation, and more direct touch-based interactions.

Week and Year view

First, when in list, day, or month view on iPhone or iPod touch, turning to landscape orientation now gives you a week view.

On iPad, you now get a full Year view, complete with a color-coded heat map showing how busy your days are, from empty white days to blisteringly busy red days at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Touch-based event creation and editing

You can now also create a new event simply by touching and holding your finger down on the time (day view), or day (month view), or day and time (week view) you want to create it for, or in the all-day area (day or week view) for an all-day event. You can also touch and hold existing events to "float" them and drag them to new time time periods, or resize change (change start or end time to lengthen or shorten) using handles that appear at the top right and bottom left. The + button and edit buttons are still there and you can still use them, and you still have to fill out or change all the other information, but intuitively it's always felt like something we should have been able to done so it's nice to finally be able to do it.

Speaking of which, you can now swipe forward or backward to the next or previous day as well. Score one for perceived consistency.

iCloud also offers the ability to share calendars with family, friends, and associates.

Photos

Photos gets a ton of new functionality in iOS 5, partially to help iOS become "PC-Free". Instead of having to rely on iPhoto on your Mac, or image software on Windows, you can now do basic photo editing and album management right on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Album management

While not specifically called out as part of Apple’s iOS 5 “cutting the (iTunes) cord” initiative, the ability to create and manage photo albums directly on-device for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch helps achieve just that. No longer are you stuck with what you sync over via USB.

Now, by tapping the edit and then album buttons, you can add a new album. By multi-selecting photos and tapping Add To, you can move them between albums and from Camera Roll and Photo Stream (for iCloud) to albums.

Only Photo Stream pictures appear to be synced stored and pushed to all your devices, however, not the folder structure. That’s a little disappointing. It would be great if whatever folder system you set up on your iPhone — family, friends, dogs, hawaii trip, etc. — would automagically be replicated on your iPad or iPod touch, but… baby steps.

Photo editing

Apple has also moved the powerful CoreImage framework from OS X to their mobile operating system, allowing the Photos app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to do some basic image editing work. Now, by tapping on the edit button at the top right, you get access to several iPhoto-like tools:

• Rotate, to turn your image in 90 degree increments
• Auto-enhance, which waves a magic wand and tries to balance your image
• Red-eye removal, so you can just say goodbye to flash-induced evil possession
• Crop, which lets you cut away the parts of an image you don't want, and includes all the standard presets.

As is the case with most built-in functions, it provides the basic set of tools but is by no means a feature complete photo editing app. Still, it's free, its bundled, and very many it will be good enough.

Photo Sharing

MMS has been replaced with Messages, and gone is MobileMe Gallery, but new to iOS 5 is the ability to tweet a picture (not video) to Twitter.

Photo Stream

Photo Stream is part of iCloud and keeps the most recent photos from your Camera Roll, up to 1000 of them and for up to 1 month, in a special album that's stored up to Apple's servers and pushed down to your other iOS 5 devices. It can also stream photos to an Apple TV 2 without keeping any local copies, and will store all your photos, without limit of number and time, in iPhoto or Aperture on Mac, and on a Windows PC.

Think of it as a photo only (no video) duplicate of all the Camera Rolls of all your iOS devices -- including photos you've saved to the Camera Roll from email and the web -- all in one place.

Unlike Camera Roll, however, you can't delete photos from Photo Stream. That means if you take any risqué photos, or save anything risqué from email or the web, that's it. It's in your photo stream until 1000 other photos force it off, a month passes, or you disable photo stream.

Camera

Camera's updates don't just include the ones it inherits from Photos by way of Camera Roll integration -- it gets a lot of very convenient feature additions all its own.

First from the live Camera preview screen, you can now not only get to the Camera Roll and review your photos and videos by tapping the thumbnail button on the bottom right, but by swiping back as well. (No, you can't get to the live Camera preview screen by swiping forward from Camera Roll in the Photos app.) You can either swipe back to the live Camera preview or tap the redesigned, and much brighter blue Camera button.

Faster picture taking

Double clicking the Home button from the Lock Screen doesn't just bring up audio controls any more -- it also brings up a Camera button. Tap the Camera button and you're rocketed straight to the camera app, Passcode Lock or no Passcode Lock. (Though if you click the Home button from there, you're intercepted by the Passcode lock.)

The Grid

HDR (high dynamic Range) has been moved into an Options button that takes it's place top center on the screen. When HDR is on, you now get a small text label above the Camera icon informing you it's on. That's a nice touch since HDR photos take a much longer amount of time to save and can lead to cursing if you're in a rush and take one accidentally.

Also under Options you now have the ability to turn on a 3x3 Grid overlay to help compose your shots.

Pinch to Zoom

The Zoom Slider isn't immediately apparent any more but you can now spread and pinch your fingers to zoom in and out, just as you do photos in the Photos app, and once you start zooming the old slider reappears.

Hardware shutter button

Taking pictures and starting/stopping video recording has also become a lot easier in iOS 5, as you can now use the volume up button as a hardware shutter/recording button. If you plug in headphones, you can even use the volume up button on the headphones as a remote shutter/recording button.

Focus and Exposure Lock

While you could previously tap the screen to set auto focus and auto exposure, you can now tap and hold to lock both focus and exposure. Small text reading AE/AF Lock with appear above the Camera icon when enabled, and you can then move the shot around without it recalibrating. Tap the screen again to unlock.

Face recognition and image stabilization

iPhone 4S also gets both face recognition to improve focus and exposure for portrait shots, as well as video stabilization to help alleviate excessive shaking in your monstrous 1080p recordings.

Videos

The great sundering of the iPhone's traditional iPod app begins with Videos. That's right, while iPod touch and iPad have always had a separate Videos app, iOS 5 marks the first time iPhone has seen the same split between audio and visual content.

On iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, thanks to the powerful A5 processor, Apple has also enabled 1080p playback. (Though give the 1024x768 iPad 2 screen resolution, and the 960x640 iPhone 4S resolution, it's a bit of a waste -- though an eventual Retina display iPad at 2048x1536 or an Apple TV that could AirPlay 1080p could one day make it worthwhile.)

YouTube

YouTube gets little by way of updates this time around, but if you're a frequent Twitter user you'll be glad to know integration into iOS 5 means you can now tweet out links to your favorite videos.

Stocks (iPhone and iPod touch only)

Stocks now get "real-time" updates. Also, the Stocks you add in the app are also the Stocks that appear in the new Notification Center Stock widget. Add or remove a stock here and it will be added to or removed from a widget.

Maps

While Apple has purchased map-related companies like Placebase and Poly9, there's no obvious indication they've deployed them in Maps to anywhere near the extent they've deployed Siri. What they have done is continue to use the Google Maps backend and improve existing features and make them even more useful.

Alternate Routes

Maps can not only give you directions now, but they can provide you with alternate routes to your destination. The default route will be labeled Route 1 and highlighted, but if traffic or personal preferences make it less than desirable, you can tap an alternate route, for example Route 2, it will become highlighted, and the directions will switch to that route.

AirPrint

The Page Curl button now reveals the additional option to AirPrint your current map.

Weather (iPhone and iPod touch only)

For starters, Weather now hooks into the Notification Center widget system. Whichever place is your default in the Weather app is the one that will be shown in the weather widget. So, change the default location in the Weather app and you change the widget.

Local Weather

Rather than choosing your home town as the default location for Weather, and manually changing it if and when you travel, you can simply enable Location Services in Weather and your iPhone or iPod will detect and display the weather for where you are at any given time.

Note: I live in Montreal, but Local Weather keeps putting me in Ottawa. So, work on the trust but verify principle -- you may need to manually adjust if it Location Services gets it not quite right.

Hourly Forecasts

If daily forecasts weren't enough for you, if just know it would rain or snow but not when wasn't enough for you, iOS 5 weather adds hourly forecasts for the current day. Just swipe down and the rest of the week will fall away and hour-by-hour predictions will be revealed in their place.

Reminders

Reminders is the Apple task and todo app 5 years in the making. As with most built-in apps, the functionality is bare-bones -- it won't be replacing high end task managers any time soon -- but well executed. Interestingly, you need to have either iCloud and/or Exchange sync setup to use Reminders (or it sort of curls up and won't do anything.) Once you've enabled sync in Settings, iCloud will create a Reminders list and Exchange will create a Task list and you're in business.

The default view is your default list and you can swipe forward to see other lists, or back to get to the special Completed list. To mark a Reminder as completed, tap the box immediately to its left and a check will appear. To unmark it, quickly tap the box again. Completed Reminders will disappear from the regular lists and move to the Completed List. To move it back, tap the box to uncheck it.

Tap the Date button and you're taken to a Day view where you can view all your reminders for that date. You can swipe backwards and forwards to the previous or next day or use the iPad-style thumbnail scroller at the bottom of the page. Tap the Today button at the top right to return to -- you guessed it -- today. If you'd rather see a month at a time, tap the Month button at the top left. Days with Reminders are colored red. Instead of swiping horizontally between months, you can scroll vertically.

To create a new Reminder, either tap the + button on the right, or tap the next empty spot on the lined paper in List or Date view. Type a name for the reminder to create it. Unlike Calendar, which immediately pops up a page for you to enter additional information, you need to tap Done at the top right, wait for the Reminder to be created, then tap it to get to the Details page.

From the Details page you can edit the name of the Reminder, and set the Remind Me method. It defaults to the current day and time, but you can set the On Day to any future date (or turn it off), and you can also set At Location to create a geo-fence around a specified location that can be told to alert either When I Leave or When I arrive. You can either choose your Current Location, your default Work or Home locations, or Choose Address from your Contacts. (Unfortunately, you can't use an embedded Map to search for an address -- you have to have it in your Contacts first.)

A Reminder can have either a time or a location assigned to it, or both. Reminders will alert you when the time arrives or the location is triggered, whichever comes first. So you could use it to remind you to call home at 5pm, and/or to call home when you leave your office.

Note: only iCloud associated Lists can use location reminders. Exchange associated Tasks don't have that functionality.

You can also set the Repeat frequency, if applicable, and by tapping Show More, you can change the Priority, change the List the Reminder is filed under, and add any Notes you might need. To delete a Reminder, tap the Delete button at the bottom.

If you want to create new lists to help keep things organized (like a packing list, shopping list, project list, etc.) just tap the Lists button at the top left, then edit at the top right, the Create New List... beneath the account you want to add it too (if you have both iCloud and Exchange sync setup.)

You can also delete lists from this page by tapping the red circle icon, then the red delete button. You can re-order lists by grabbing the gripper icon to their right and dragging up or down. You can also search for reminders in any list here, which is good functionality but it feels like a strange place to put it. Creating a unified master page that collects all your reminders from all your lists, and allows search, feels like it would be a more useful and consistent way of handling it.

Clock (iPhone and iPod touch only)

Now you can pause the countdown timer.

Game Center

Game Center, Apple's answer to Xbox Live!, gets updates this time around where Ping, Apple's social music network, does not. Like several other iOS 5 updates, they round out the feature set and better integrate the app with Apple's store system.

Profile Privates and Pics

First up, you can now choose to keep your profile private, in which case your real name won't be shared with Game Center friends. You can also add a picture or avatar to your profile, so you're visually recognizable.

Friend Recommendations and Points Sorting

You get to see other people's profile pics on the Friends page, along with a fanned out deck of friend recommendations, and the ability to sort friends by their achievement point total.

Game Recommendations and Purchase

Games are likewise recommended, and you can buy them right inside Game Center via an embedded version of the App Store. It included no non-game apps, and no search, so it's limited but still convenient.

Which begs the question -- will Apple continue this type of integration, similar to what they do in iBooks, and instead of a button in Music to take you to the iTunes Store, just embed the audio portion of the store in Music?

Newsstand

Newsstand is new to iOS 5 but isn't a new app per se. It's more like a permanent Folder than contains all your subscription magazine and newspaper apps. Tap the Newsstand icon and, just like for Folders, Newsstand opens up to reveal the apps inside. Instead of a dark linen background, however, you're greeted with iBooks-like wooden shelves. And instead of the usual app icon, you're shown the cover art or front page of the latest issue. Tapping a Newsstand magazine or newspaper app launches it the same as tapping any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad app.

A Store button at the top right takes you to a special section of the App Store where you can subscribe to your favorite magazines and newspapers, from Elle to The Economist, the New Yorker to the New York Times, Cosmo to Car and Driver.

Note: Individual apps have to be updated to support Newsstand. If they haven't been updated yet, they'll download to your Home Screen as they did before Newsstand. Sadly, the Newsstand Store doesn't indicate which apps have or haven't updated up front, you need to tap through an examine the release notes for each one.

iTunes Store

iTunes Store has been integrated with iCloud to provide functionality that was previously exclusive to apps and games in the App Store. However, most of this new functionality is currently only available in the US -- Apple is at the mercy of the record labels and Hollywood studios -- but will hopefully expand in the future.

Music and TV re-downloads

iTunes -- in the US -- now offers the ability to re-download previously purchased iTunes music and TV shows without being charged again for the privilege. This isn't exclusive to iOS 5 mind you. As of a few months ago, re-downloads have been available in iOS 4.3 as well. (iTunes is a native wrapper around web views, so Apple can update it outside of the firmware.) However, this is as good a place as any to go over it.

Just tap the Purchased tab on the bottom of the screen and then choose which type of media you want to re-download. You can either view All your previous purchases or just the ones Not On This iPhone/iPod/iPad. You'll be given an alphabetical list of songs, topped by options for All Songs and Recent Purchases. All Songs can be further filtered by Most Recent, Song Name, and Artist Name. Tap the iCloud Download icon to start re-downloading.

Tapping the More tab and then Downloads will let you keep track of what's being pulled from iCloud, and tapping the Purchased button at the top right will send you to the Music or Videos app where you can also track the downloads and start listening/watching.

Note: To prevent piracy, you can't simply log into one iTunes account after another and re-download all the music from each account. Once your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is associated with an iTunes account, it can't be changed for 90 days.

iTunes Match

iTunes Match is a supplementary iCloud service available for $25 a year. It's a music locker service that scans your desktop iTunes library and, if they're part of the 20 million strong iTunes catalog, immediately makes any songs you already have in your possession available to you in 256-bit AAC format. If they're not in the iTunes catalog -- if they're your favorite fringe Anime soundtracks, for example -- they'll be uploaded to Apple's servers in the existing format and quality.

Note: iTunes Match is currently in beta and listed as "coming soon".

Tone Store

Apple introduced the iTunes Ringtone store way back in 2008 alongside the first iPod touch. With iOS 5 Tones are no long restricted to phone calls and can be purchased in iTunes and assigned in the Settings app to a wide range of alerts, including Messages, Emails, etc. Same store, same prices, more places to use them.

App Store

App Store also gets integrated with iCloud, though in this case it's mostly new management, same great service. Like iTunes, the updates here aren't unique to iOS 5 -- Apple has rolled them out to iOS 4.3 users already -- but for convenience's sake, here's where we're going to cover them.

App Re-downloads

You could always re-download previously purchased apps at no additional charge from the App Store, but now Apple has created a better, clearer interface for doing it. Just tap on the Updates tab and you'll see a top-of-page option for Purchased apps. Tap it and you'll get a list of All your previously purchased apps in reverse chronological order. You can also tap the Not On This iPhone/iPad/iPod button to filter out app you already have installed. Tap the iCloud Download icon to start installing them.

Note: If you share an iTunes account with your significant other or kids, iTunes will now rat out any risqué purchases you might have previously been able to keep hidden...

In the other App Store sections, there's no more guessing as to whether or not you've already purchased an app. If you have, the price tag button is replaced with an Install button.

Settings

As is almost always the case, the greatest number of changes in iOS 5 appear in the Settings app -- it's where all the options for all the new system features, apps, and app features are to be found. Also, for the first time Settings gets notifications of its own. Any time a Software Update is pending, Settings will send you a popup and place a badge on its app icon.

Notifications

Notifications now houses all the options for Lock Screen Info, Notification Center, and in-app Notifications. Up top you can choose to Sort Apps Manually or By Time. Below that are two lists, In Notification Center for apps that are currently enabled to send you notifications, and Not in Notification Center for apps you've disabled.

The Edit button gives you little gripper icons on the right hand side to let you re-order apps within either list.

Tap an app and you're taken to the individual Notification settings. For each app, you can toggle Notification Center on or off, choose to Show 1, 5, or 10 recent items, pick an alert style from None to Banners (new style) to Alerts (old style popups), and decide if you want to Badge the App Icon (the little red numbers on the top right), allow sounds (including vibration). You can also choose if you want to be able to see the alert in View in Lock Screen.

Note: Not all apps provide for the same options. For example, some apps have no sound alerts, so there's no option to enable or disable them.

Location Services

Apple continues their emphasis on privacy by making Location Services far more granular. Not only can you globally disable them during initial setup, and toggle them all on or off in Settings, you can enable or disable each app on an individual basis, whether they're built-in like Camera or Maps or App Store like Facebook or TomTom. You can also tap through to System Services and enable or disable Cell Network Search, Compass Collaboration, Diagnostics & Usage, Location-Based iAds, Setting Time Zone, and Traffic.

Moreover a purple arrow icon to the left of the on/off toggle tells you if any app or service is currently using location, and a gray arrow icon tells you if any app or service has used your location within the last 24hrs.

Sounds

Sounds also get far more granular, and more encompassing controls. In addition to Ringtones (iPhone only) and Text Tones (new to iPod touch and iPad), you can set tone for New Voicemail, New Mail, Sent Mail, Tweet, Calendar Alerts, and Reminder Alerts.

If you want to change one, tap it. At the very top of the tone page you have a handy button to take you right to the iTunes Tone Store (not just for Ringtones any more). You can then choose from None (no sound), or from a list of Alerts (previously Text Tones) and Ringtones.

Alerts now includes a Tweet Tone for the new Twitter integration. And yes, most Alerts are still inappropriate for the job for which they were intended -- let's hope they get shorter and snappier in the future.

While it may seem like a bit of an overlap to have alert sound on/off settings under Notifications and a None option in Sounds, it does increase discoverability for users.

Also, as part of Apple's outstanding Accessibility features, you can now set Vibration Patterns in addition to the standard Alert, including Heartbeat, Rapid, S.O.S., and Sympathy, and you can even create a Custom Vibration via the Create New Vibration tab.

Just tap the screen to create a pattern, stop it and play it back to make sure it's too your liking, and then hit Save. This way, if you can't hear individualized alerts, you can feel them.

General: About

In the About section, there's now a field for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad Name. Tap it and you can change it on-device.

General: Software Update

Since iOS 5 has take iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad PC Free, instead of updating your firmware by connecting to iTunes on Mac or Windows, you can just tap Software Update and it will do it on-device. If there isn't an update ready and waiting for you, Settings will check for it. When an update is available, tap Install and it will begin to download. Settings will restart your device and apply the update.

General: Usage

Usage gets a big makeover, and far more granular and interactive controls. First, Storage is broken down on an app by app basis. You can see how much memory each app is using, and if you tap through, you can see what it's using it for, and even delete it if it's an App Store app. (If you don't see all your apps, just tap Show all Apps.)

iCloud shows off it's stats here to, and lets you tap through, you can Manage Storage just like you can from the top level iCloud Settings area proper (see below).

Cellular Data now requires you tap through to see Call Time, Cellular Network Data, and Tether Data (if your plan allows tethering.)

General: iTunes Wi-Fi Sync

Once you've enabled iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, here's where you can check and see your last sync day and time, and manually tell your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to Sync Now.

General: Spotlight Search

You can now enable or disable Spotlight Search for Reminders.

General: Accessibility

Here's where Apple hides all the really impressive Accessibility features. Along with previous options, you can now toggle on Hearing Aid mode, turn on or off Custom Vibrations, have the LED flash go off to signal notification alerts, set Mono Audio left or right, set Assistive Touch, and set Triple-click Home.

If you tap through to Assistive Touch, you can toggle it on or off, toggle Always Show Menu on or off, set the tracking speed, tap through to Create New Gestuers, or delete Custom Gestures via the Edit button at the top right.

Triple-click Home can now be set to toggle AssistiveTouch.

iCloud

iCloud shows you your current Account and lets you tap through to see the associated Apple ID, your current Storage Plan, and your Payment Information. You can buy more Storage right from this page if you want to.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, and Find my iPhone can be toggle on or off, as can Photo Stream but oddly you need to tap through to a separate page to do this. (Perhaps more options are coming in the future?) You also have to tap through to a separate page to toggle Documents & Data, but have the additional option to toggle Use Cellular on or off as well. (If you turn it off, you can save on data but will need to be on Wi-Fi to store/push your documents.)

Storage & Backup shows how much total storage you have available (every iCloud user starts off with 5GB for free), and how much you have available out of that total. You can Manage Storage, Buy More Storage (using your iTunes account), toggle iCloud backup on and off, and even start a Back Up Now (if you're on Wi-Fi).

Tap through to Manage Storage and you get a list of all your currently backed up iOS devices, along with the size of their individual backups. (You can Buy More Storage here as well). Tap a device name and you're taken to its info page which shows the device name, device type, the time of the Latest Backup, the Backup Size, and the Backup Options.

Backup Options predict the Next Backup Size and then lets you see the current size of each individual app's backup and toggle its backup state on or off. (If you don't see all your apps listed, tap the Show All Apps tab at the bottom.) You can also tap the big red Delete Backup button to remove that device's backup from iCloud.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

All your accounts are listed here and tapping on one lets you toggle individual aspects on or off and set additional options.

If you have an iCloud account, tapping it here gives you the same options as tapping iCloud in its own settings tap. Again, more places means more discoverability.

If you tap into another account, like MobileMe or Exchange, and keep tapping into Advanced settings as deeply as you can, you'll find and be able to toggle on S/MIME support, turn Sign and/or Encrypt on, and pick a Certificate.

There have been a bunch of other small changes as well. For example, showing 25 mail messages is now gone and 1000 has been added.

Twitter

Settings for Twitter include a handy button to grab the official Twitter app from the App Store, if it's not already installed. You can tap Add Account to get started, and you can add multiple accounts without a problem. You can even Create New Account if you don't have one (or enough) already.

For each account you can individually enable or disable Find Me by Email and Tweet Location. And you can use Twitter to update the info in your Contacts.

FaceTime

FaceTime was originally introduced in iOS 4 for iPhone using phone numbers as unique identifies. Later iPod touch and then iPad got FaceTime using Apple IDs as the identifier. Now in iOS 5, things go full circle and iPhone can use both phone numbers and Apple IDs for FaceTime.

Safari

You can now choose to have Safari open links In New Page (iPhone and iPod touch) or In New Tap (iPad), or In Background so you can stay on the same page/tab and go look at the new one only when you're ready. On iPhone and iPod touch you have to tap through and check your preference. On iPad, just a toggle.

Desktop Safari stalwart Private Browsing makes the jump to mobile as well. When you toggle it on or off, you'll be asked if you want to close all existing pages or tabs or leave them open. Since the point of Private Browsing is to turn off all cookies, caching, and tracking information so you can surf discreetly, closing existing pages and tabs is probably a good idea.

If you tap through the Advanced Tab, and into Website Data, you now get a list of websites that use HTML5 local storage to keep information stored on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (for example, Gmail.com so you can still access some recent mail when off of the network.) Not only can you see which sites have data on your device here, you can tap Edit to delete that data on a site-by-site basis or scroll to the bottom and tap Remove All Website Data to nuke every bit of it all at once whenever the mood strikes you.

Messages

With the addition of iMessage, the Message Settings now let you toggle the service on or off, and present the option to Send Read Receipts, so like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) you can let people know not only that you've received their iMessage, but seen it as well.

On the iPhone, because it also ties into your carrier's SMS/MMS service, you can choose to enable or disable Send as SMS for when iMessage is unavailable (say one of your writers has taken up with an Android phone for a week...) If you have both a decent text and data plan, leaving this on ensures smooth, uninterrupted messaging. If you've greatly reduced texts in lieu of iMessage, leaving this off means you don't risk hefty a la carte SMS charges.

You can also choose which Apple ID email address you want to use for iMessage (much like you can for FaceTime), and add additional email addresses if, for example, you want friends and family to reach you through a different channel than colleagues at work. (Or if you've just collected too many Apple IDs, lost track of who has which one, and don't want to miss anyone who might iMessage you on a whim.)

Photos

In Photos Settings, like in iCloud Settings, you can toggle Photo Stream on or off.

Store

If iTunes in the Cloud is available in your local iTunes Store, you can not only re-download Music and iBooks just like Apps, but you can now set your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to automatically download any Music and iBooks, and Apps that you've downloaded on any other device or on iTunes desktop on your Mac or Windows PC. For example, if you buy All Along the Watchtower on your Mac, it'll start downloading to your desktop library but also start downloading on your iPhone and iPad. The same holds true for apps provided they're universal. So, if you buy Angry Birds HD on your iPad, it'll download to your desktop iTunes library, but not your iPhone (because you can't play iPad games on your iPhone). Likewise, buying an iOS version of an app or game doesn't cause your Mac to start downloading the Mac App Store version.

If you have several family members with widely different tastes all on the same iTunes account, auto downloading can get messy. If you're the only person on the account but you have a bunch of iTunes enabled computers and iOS devices, it can be miraculous.

On iPhone and iPad 3G, you can also choose to enable Use Cellular Data to automatically download purchases when away from Wi-Fi. If you have limited data, keep this off.

Phone

Phone has a number of new options in Settings, but in the app itself the major new feature is granular deletion of Recent Calls. You now get an Edit button at the top right and tapping it lets you go through and select and confirm individual calls for deletion.

Mail

Mail gets a bevy of new features in iOS 5 that bring it closer on par to a full desktop email client without losing the ease of use that characterizes Apple's multitouch apps. Everything, from formatting to function gets an update, and the built in dictionary comes along for the ride.

Dragability

Have an email address in the To: field and think it really would be better off in the CC: field? Gone are the days of moving by way of deleting and retyping. Now just touch the address, it floats up, and you can drag it to just exactly where you want it.

Rich Text

Touch and hold to select as you would for copy and paste, and the popup menu now let's you tap an arrow to get to formatting commands. Bold, italic, and underline are all options, along with decreasing or increasing the quote level.

Marking and Flagging

You can now Flag or Unflag messages to make important email stand out. It's been included alongside Mark as Read or Unread.

Speaking of Marking, you can now Mark multiple messages as Read or Unread using the same Edit controls that previously allowed you to Move or Delete them.

Warning signs

If you try to send an email and the Subject is left blank, iOS 5 will popup a warning.

Folder Management

You can now add mailbox folders directly on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Just go to the account you want to add a mailbox folder to, tap Edit up top, then New Mailbox at the bottom, and enter the name you want to use. If you want to make it a subfolder, just tap the account name and you'll get a list of parent folders.

You can also tap the Edit button, choose a folder, and then change the name, change the parent folder, or even tap the Delete button to remove it from existence.

Safari

Several of Safari's new features seem designed to allow users to consumer web articles faster, easier, and more elegantly than was previous possible on mobile devices. But at the same time, Safari for iPad behaves more than ever like a desktop browser.

Reader and Reading List

Safari Reader uses, in part, the open source version of Readability to re-render web articles text on a white background with big, legible text, and free from ads and other distractions that typically clutter up the 'net. Just tap the Reader button at the top right of the address bar and Reader will slide in and take right over. To make it go away, tap the (now purple) Reader button again.

For hard-to-read sites, or those that have double-underline popup punch-the-monkeyed their souls to the monetization devils, Reader comes in really handy.

Reading List is a special type of bookmark that lets you quickly save a web article to read later. The combination of being easy to add and easy to find, and iCloud-powered sync across iOS and Mac OS X Safari browsers, makes it useful as far as it goes.

To save a page, tap the Action button and then tap Add to Reading List. To retrieve a page, tap the Bookmarks button and from the top level, tap the Eyeglasses icon or the Reading List label at the top.

But even taken together, while nice to have as built in features, they're not a serious replacement for Instapaper.

Pop-over pulled

The less than ideal pop-over previously used to show the Mail list in iPad has been replaced with a slide-on, slide-off panel. It looks better but is a little harder to put away at time.

Nitro

The Nitro JavaScript engine, brought to Safari in iOS 4.3, has also been pushed out to Web.app, the service that allows web apps to be bookmarked to the Home Screen. That means all web pages now enjoy the 2x software speed boost Nitro previously only provided Safari, and Apple continues to provide the most powerful HTML 5 support in mobile. (UIWebView, the control used to display a web page inside an app, still doesn't get Nitro, reportedly due to security concerns surrounding the Just In Time (JIT) compiler.)

Tabbed browsing (iPad only)

While iPhone and iPod touch retains their customary Pages system to manage moving between multiple active web pages, iPad gets the full desktop treatment courtesy of tabs. And they work just as you would expect. Tap the big + button on the right to add a new tab and the tiny X icon on the tabs far left edge to close it.

Also like desktop Safari, touching and holding the Forward or Back button will now open a History popover.

Music

While iPod touch always had a separate Music app, iPad had a separate music app named iPod, and iPhone combined both video and music into a single iPod app. No longer. Whether Apple is winding down iPod as a brand -- they didn't update any of the iPod line of devices this year -- or simply creating consistency across iOS devices, the iPod app is dead. Long live the Music app.

New interface, new iTunes Store integration

Music gets a face lift in general, with a new look to most of its views. The most impressive of which is the inclusion the download indicators for songs either freshly purchased or in the process of re-downloading thanks to iTunes in the Cloud. There's also a new Store button at the top right so you can quickly get to the iTunes Store to buy or download more content.

Pop up names

In previous versions of iOS, long names were cut off. That meant, for example, if you wanted to find one of a dozen or more chapters in an audio book, it was a guessing game. (Tap. No, not 9-16. Tap. No, not 20-22. Where's 25, frakdammit!) Now you just tap and hold and the full information pops up, making it easy to pick the right one. It works for most fields, track name, artist name, album name, etc. Again, a small addition but a helpful one.

Contacts

Contacts gets a relatively minor addition in iOS 5 -- pun intended. You can now add a new field called Related People, and set it to mother, father, parent, brother, sister, child, friend, spouse, partner, assistant, manager, or other. You can then type in a name or choose from an another existing Contact.

Pricing and Availability

iOS 5 will be available as a free update for all supported devices on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Although not all features are supported on all devices -- or all generations of all devices -- iOS 5 can be installed on the following:

• iPhone 4S (2011)
• iPhone 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPhone 3GS (2009, 2010, and 2011)
• iPod touch 4 (2010 and 2011)
• iPod touch 3 (2009)
• iPad 2 (2011)
• iPad (2010)

Should you upgrade?

Yes, absolutely and immediately with 2 caveats. First, if you're on older hardware like iPhone 3GS and you're reading this just as iOS 5 becomes available, you might want to wait a few days and make sure there aren't any reports of excessive sluggishness or other issues. Second, if you're Jailbroken and rely on certain features, and don't like tethered Jailbreaks, you might want to wait until a nicely packaged iOS 5 Jailbreak for your device is released (iPad 2 and iPhone 4S might take a while.)

Otherwise this is a fantastic update with incredible new functionality -- and it's free. What are you waiting for? It will make you feel like you have a while new device.

Conclusion

Almost everything about iOS 5 feels broader and better, and not only more functional, but more personal and more tactile as well. Apple has added more granular levels of control to things like Location Services and Data Storage, so you can keep private what you want to keep private and delete what you want to delete. They've also added more direct touch manipulation to the UI with Multitasking Gestures on iPad 2 apps like Calendar and Mail, so the interactions are viscerally intuitive. At the same time they've the social, sharing aspects of iOS with services like AirPlay and apps like Find My Friends. It's a clever balance. So is the interface, which Apple has kept as accessible for novice users as it was in iOS 1 in 2007, and yet added ever greater layers of complexity for power users, including Fast App Switcher in 2010 and Notifications in 2011. For my sister, an iPhone or iPad can just make calls, play music, watch videos, and take photos. For me they can increasingly do almost anything.

And then there's Siri. I've already written about what it might mean for Apple in the customer insight space. What it means for users is perhaps even more profound. It's a whole new interface for computing and the next step in Apple's relentless attempt to make technology ever more mainstream. From CLI on Apple II to GUI on Mac to multitouch on iPhone to Siri on iPhone 4S, Apple continues to tear down barriers of entry and reset expectations not about what we can do with devices, but about what they can do for us.

There are still things to complain about if you come from other platforms and miss specific features or have specific needs. Faster access to radio toggles. Quick message previews and responses. A Theme Store in case the 5-year old UI is starting to look a little less than fresh. A Files app that handles documents the way Photos handles images and videos. But with each version the list in undeniably growing shorter.

Still, it's hard not to think about Steve Jobs at this point, and his standing beneath that giant slide showing the crossroads of technology and liberal arts, and see iOS 5 in the context of that vision. The man who was inspired by calligraphy to make elegant digital typography and lick-able interfaces has begun to obsolete them with voice. But that was his way and it remains Apple's way. Future thinking and fearlessly so.

Some rough edges remain, and there will be an iOS 5.1 and iOS 6 after it, but iOS 5 is still beautiful and we can use it to make our devices and our lives better.

iOS 4.3 is now in gold master and scheduled for release on March 11, 2011 alongside iPad 2 with new features like Wi-Fi personal hotspot for iPhone, iTunes home sharing, improved AirPlay, faster Safari and more.

If you want a quick look at the new software but don't have a lot of time, check out the video above for everything you need to know about iOS 4.3 in just 5 minutes. For a more in-depth iOS 4.3 guide, read on after the break.

Note: We're combining iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad walkthroughs below since, post iOS 4.2 grand-unification the size of the updates are roughly similar. If it gets more complicated later, we'll split iPhone/iPod touch out from iPad like last time.

What hasn't changed

iOS 4.3 looks to have interesting albeit far from numerous changes thus far. Since we're only covering what's new and improved, here's a list of previous walkthroughs for those new to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad so you can learn about all the established features. Major releases in bold.

• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

System-wide changes

AirPlay

AirPlay was introduced in iOS 4.2 and allows video and audio to be sent from iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and iTunes on Windows or Mac to an Apple TV, or audio-only to a growing number of 3rd party speakers and other accessories. While iOS 4.2 only provided video-to-Apple TV support from the YouTube and iPod/Video apps, iOS 4.3 gives both App Store apps and web content the ability to send video to Apple TV. (Note: Apps like Hulu may well block this functionality due to Hollywood being catastrophically short sighted when it comes to the digital age.)

Video Mirroring (iPad 2 only)

With iPad 2 and either the old VGA adapter or new HDMI adapter, you'll be able to mirror your device display on an external monitor.

Video mirroring, as the name suggests, means everything and anything you see on iPad 2, from Home Screen to apps, will be shown exactly the same on your external monitor or HD TV. (Hulu and similar apps might have a way to block this, we'll have to test it and see.)

Previous devices like iPad and iPhone 4 will only be able to output video the way they currently do, if the particular app enables it. (like iPod, Video, Keynote, YouTube, Safari, Photos, and App Store apps that support it.)

Home Screen

SpringBoard, the app that runs the home screen and overall interface in iOS, gets its multitasking dock UI tweaked once again on iPad.

Multitouch navigation gestures (iPad only, developers only)

Apple has introduced 4 or 5 finger multitouch navigation gestures in the iOS 4.3 for iPad but only for developers to test. They won't be available to regular users. To get them to appear in Settings, you need to connect your iPad to Xcode and enable the device for development. (See our how to enable iPad multitasking gestures in iOS 4.3 article for more.)

The new gestures don't replace the Home Button but do reduce the amount of times you need to single or double click it, which could reduce concerns of hardware wear and tear post iOS 4 multitasking.

The new gestures can be done with 4 or 5 fingers and resemble multitouch trackpad gestures available on Mac OS X since the introduction of the original MacBook Air in 2008 and expanded upon in the recent Mac OS X 10.7 Lion preview given by Steve Jobs at the Back to the Mac event. The gestures currently include

• Pinch all fingers in to exit an app and return to the Home Screen (identical to single-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe up from the bottom bezel to reveal the multitasking Fast App Switcher Dock (identical to double-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe sideways from left to right or right to left to move between recently open apps (similar to double-clicking the Home Button to reveal the Fast App Switcher and tapping on an app icon immediately to right).

The sideways swipe is interesting in that it allows you to go left or right whereas the Fast App Switcher reorders the recent app icons so you always go backwards in "time" to the right. It seems perceptively faster for a single app-back movement since there's no carousel animation, yet you can only swipe back one app at a time whereas you can tap on any of 4 immediately available app icons in the Fast App Switcher and swipe back 4 additional apps at a time.

Performance on the current generation iPad, however, is hampered by lack of RAM. With only 256MB many apps will need to reload when you swipe back to them (at least so far in the beta). If iPad 2 has at least 512MB -- or better yet 1GB -- it would fly with this system.

Mute widget (iPad only)

When iPad shipped with iOS 3.2 the hardware switch above the volume rocker was set to lock or unlock screen orientation. In iOS 4.2 it was changed to a mute/un-mute switch like iPhone. Uncharacteristically, Apple has now added a Settings toggle to let the user choose which function they want the switch to perform. Since iOS 4.2 added a software orientation lock widget in the multitasking Fast App Switcher dock, iOS 4.3 now also toggles between that widget and a software mute button to fill whichever function is no longer being provided by the hardware switch. (Hardware switch set to orientation lock means dock widget becomes mute button and vice-versa.)

Photos

As mentioned above, you now have the ability to send recorded videos out over AirPlay to Apple TV, something which was noticeably missing when the feature was introduced in iOS 4.2.

Notes

iOS 4.2 finally let us change the Notes font from Marker Felt to something -- anything -- else, as long as that anything else was Helvetica or Chalkboard. Well it turns out Chalkboard wasn't long for this world as it has been replaced in iOS 4.3 with Noteworthy.

App Store

The App Store gets a new design for the Updates page.

Install buttons

Although it's not an iOS 4.3 specific feature, App Store has also been updated recently on the server side with a few new features. On all devices, if you've already bought or downloaded an app but it's not currently loaded on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, instead of the Free or price button, you get an Install button. (This doesn't seem true in all regional App Store yet, but is working in the US App Store.)

Search filters

Also not iOS 4.3 specific but since the timing fits, on the iPad there are also new filters in place on the search page, including Category, Release Date, Customer Rating, Price, and Device, as well as a Reset Filters option. Since App Store, like iTunes is really just an app-wrapped, internet powered, WebKit UI Apple can make all sorts of changes without having to wait for a new iOS version to ship. Usually these are just content features, banners, etc. (or the addition of Ping...) but it's nice to see new functionality sneak in every once and a while.

Also, if you leave a search to go to Featured or Top Charts, etc. and then tap the search field at the top right, you're whisked right back the previous search results, sans keyboard.

In-app purchases

In-app purchases now always require a password. Previously iOS would remember a password for a short amount of time after it was last entered. This led to children purchasing huge quantities of Smurfberries and other "freemium" content, which in turn led to the new password challenge system. (Of course this does nothing to protect parents who give their children their iTunes password or use an easily guessed or observed password -- be warned!)

iAds

For developers, iAds can now go full screen. That includes the big iPad screen, which Apple says allow for "immersive, interactive iAd experience". They also say the new banner format is easy to implement.

HTTP Live Streaming metrics

HTTP Live Streaming, the technology Apple uses to stream high quality video including their own press conferences and events, now includes viewer engagement and performance metrics. This is intended to help developers fine tune and optimize their content.

iTunes

iOS 4.3 brings a new set of push notifications to the table -- for Apple's Ping social musical network. So if you've been dying to know what Phil Schiller -- or Chad -- has bought, liked, or commented on in iTunes as instantaneously as possible you'll get your wish.

FaceTime (iPad 2)

iPhone 4 got FaceTime with iOS 4 and iPod touch 4 with iOS 4.1, and now it's iPad 2's turn with iOS 4.3. Just like iPod touch 4, there's a dedicated -- and newly redesigned -- FaceTime icon so you can easily launch it (iPhone still launches from the Phone app). Since, also like iPod touch 4, there's no phone number associated with an iPad 2, it uses Apple/iTunes IDs to map the connections.

Enter your credentials and you'll be able to FaceTime with anyone on iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, iPad 2, or Mac.

[We'll update this when iPad 2 ships and we have a chance to test it.]

Photo Booth (iPad 2 only)

Photo Booth, like the Mac app of the same name, is a fun time-killer where you can apply effects to the live camera view and save the pictures for use in profiles or just to share with friends and family. Thanks to the new cameras in iPad 2 and the powerful A5 processor you can see 9 live video streams, with effects applied, in real time. Since iOS is multitouch enabled, you can also use gestures to manipulate the effects in real time.

[We'll update this when iPad 2 ships and we have a chance to test it.]

Settings

Not only does Settings hide the usually interesting tweaks found in any new iOS version but this time it's home to one of the marquee new features -- Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot.

Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot (iPhone 4 only)

Freshly sandwiched in between VPN and Notifications for iPhone users is the new top-level Personal Hotspot setting. (It also find it in Settings: General: Network: Personal Hotspot, where it replaces the previous Tethering setting, but why dig that deep when you no longer have to?)

When you tap Personal Hotspot you're taken to a screen that lets you toggle it on or off (why can't we do this top-level like Airplane Mode or VPN?) along with your -- visible -- current WPA access point password (with no choice to hide it). Instructions on how "to connect using Wi-Fi" have been added to the previous tethering instructions for Bluetooth and USB. As before with Bluetooth, if you don't have Wi-Fi enabled you'll get a popup asking if you'd like to enable it or if you'd prefer to tether via Bluetooth (if that's enabled) or USB.

You can change your WPA password by tapping on it, and you're warned the new password must be at least 8 characters long (we recommend something not easily guessed like "password") and that changing the password will disconnect any currently connected devices.

When activated you get the same blue bar across the top of your iPhone that tethering presented under iOS 3 and iOS 4, though renamed Personal Hotspot and now indicating the number of devices connected (up to a maximum of 5 on Verizon, 3 on most GSM carriers like AT&T).

For iPhone 3GS users personal hotspot is there and in the same top-level position, but is limited to the old-style Bluetooth and USB.

Location Services

Location Services has also been promoted to top level in iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. (see iPhone screenshot above, iPad screen shot below)

Sounds

Mercifully, the new Text Tones for iPhone 4 introduced in iOS 4.2 have been made shorter as better fits Text Tones. Tragically, they haven't been made any better. It's bewildering.

Vibration has also changed for text/SMS alerts. Now you get two short vibrations for an SMS on both iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

General: Restrictions

If you don't want your children discovering new, electronic hipster songs on Apple's social music network, Ping, iOS 4.3 lets you disable it via the Parental Controls.

General: Use Side Switch to (iPad only)

The iPad's hardware switch, originally released as an orientation lock/unlock in iOS 3.2 and changed to an iPhone-like mute/un-mute switch in iOS 4.2 now becomes user assignable in iOS 4.3. Yes, with a simple checkbox you can choose which way you personally like it.

As mentioned up top, whichever option you do not choose becomes a software control in the multitasking Fast App Switcher dock.

General: Multitasking Gestures (iPad developers only)

A simple toggle allows you to turn on or off the new multitasking navigation gestures (see the description under system-wide changes, above). These are intended for developers only, not end-users so you need to connect to Xcode to enable them. (See our how to enable iPad multitasking gestures in iOS 4.3 article for more.)

Messages (iPhone only)

The settings for Messages now allow you to choose how many times you want SMS/MMS alerts to sound, repeated at two minute intervals. Choices include:

• Once
• Twice
• 3 Times
• 5 Times
• 10 Times.

iPod

New to iPod Settings, you can scroll down and enter your iTunes username and password to enable Home Sharing (if you enter the wrong information, you'll get a popup telling you it can't be enabled).

Notes

As mentioned previously, Noteworthy replaces Chalkboard in the Notes settings.

Phone + Contacts

A minor but likely very welcome change in iOS 4.3 beta sees the addition of a wait button to the add contact phone number's extended keyboard and the rejiggering of some of the other buttons like pause.

This can also be used to setup single-tap conference call dialing, with the pause to send passcodes.

Safari

Hopefully Apple's comments about AirPlay supporting web content means we'll be able to stream H.264 video from Safari to Apple TV as well under iOS 4.3.

In addition we'd expect Apple adds whatever other HTML 5, CSS, and Nitro (their JavaScript rendering engine) improvements they've made since iOS 4.2 shipped.

iPod

iPod gains Home Sharing under iOS 4.3, the ability to stream media from your Mac or Windows PC the same way Apple TV (2010) has been doing since last fall.

Home Sharing

Once you enable Home Sharing in Settings (see above) you can tap on More on the bottom tabs, select the new Shared icon at the bottom, and tap on the computer name you want to access under Shared Libraries

You'll be taken "back" to the iPod app media list but you'll now be seeing your PC's library instead of your local device library (it can be a little confusing at first but the PC library name is written on top of the scroll list). Choose your music, TV, movies, or other media just as you would have previously, but it'll now stream from your PC over Wi-Fi.

To change back to your local device library, tap on More, tap on Sharing, and select your local device from the top of the list (you'll see a checkmark next to whichever library is currently the active one).

So it's a little complex and it can be confusing, but it works and for media you only want access to occasionally, it can save you a lot of occasional syncing

Ping

Apple says you can also post and like songs on Ping directly from the Now Playing screen but I haven't seen the controls for it yet.

Apple TV

Apple TV is also getting the iOS 4.3 treatment. Major new features include:

• AirPlay for App Store apps and compatible web video
• Dolby Digital 5.1 for Netflix
• New slideshow themes
• An improved keyboard
• MLB HD streaming for MLB.com subscribers
• NBA HD streaming for NBA league pass subscribers

MLB and NBA are built-in, just like Netflix.

Pricing and compatibility

iOS 4.3 is available free of charge to all compatible iOS devices. Compatibility, however, is so far even more restricted that iOS 4 -- namely iPhone 3G/iPod touch G2 do not have beta versions of iOS 4.3 to date.

• iPhone 4 (GSM), iPod touch 4 (2010): All features except display mirroring
• iPhone 4 (Verizon): No update announced.
• iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 (2009), iPad 1 (2010): No features requiring iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, or iPad2-type hardware (i.e. front facing camera)
• iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 (2008): not compatible
• iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 (2007): not compatible

Conclusion

iOS 4.3 gives AirPlay some much-needed improvements, adds Home Sharing, begins to fix the horrible text-tones for iPhone, and provides the fantastic personal hotspot feature for iPhone 4. It's not a huge update but it's a good one.

If you were expecting more major updates, like notification SIRI-infused, OS-wide VoiceControl system, etc. etc. then you'll need to wait for a more major update like iOS 5. (Which should be previewed this month or next.) For now you have a few more toys to play with in your iOS chest.

As always, If you noticed we missed anything, drop us a note in the comments or send us an email and we’ll update as needed.

iOS 4.3 has just come out in beta with a rumored release date anywhere from February 10 (the Verizon iPhone release date) to March, 2011, and new features like Wi-Fi personal hotspot for iPhone and multitouch navigation gestures for iPad.

If you want a quick look at the new software but don't have a lot of time, check out the video above for everything you need to know about iOS 4.3 in just 5 minutes. For a more in-depth iOS 4.3 guide, read on after the break.

Note: We're combining iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad walkthroughs below since, post iOS 4.2 grand-unification the size of the updates are roughly similar. If it gets more complicated later, we'll split iPhone/iPod touch out from iPad like last time.

What hasn't changed

iOS 4.3 looks to have interesting albeit far from numerous changes thus far. Since we're only covering what's new and improved, here's a list of previous walkthroughs for those new to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad so you can learn about all the established features. Major releases in bold.

• iOS 4.2 for iPhone | iOS 4.2 for iPad
• iOS 4.1 for iPhone
• iOS 4 for iPhone
• iOS 3.2 for iPad
• iOS 3.1 for iPhone
• iOS 3.0 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.2 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.1 for iPhone
• iPhone 2.0 for iPhone

System-wide changes

AirPlay

AirPlay was introduced in iOS 4.2 and allows video and audio to be sent from iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and iTunes on Windows or Mac to an Apple TV, or audio-only to a growing number of 3rd party speakers and other accessories. While iOS 4.2 only provided video-to-Apple TV support from the YouTube and iPod/Video apps, iOS 4.3 promises to allow both apps and web content the ability to send video to Apple TV. (It's up to individual developers to implement, of course.)

Apple's own apps, like Photo, should be able to AirPlay video recordings in iOS 4.3 as well. Hurray.

3rd party apps like Air Video and Zumocast should gain Airplay Video streaming. No word yet on Angry Birds (using iPhone or iPad as a controller, naturally).

Home Screen

SpringBoard, the app that runs the home screen and overall interface in iOS, gets its multitasking dock UI tweaked once again on iPad.

Multitouch navigation gestures (iPad only)

Apple has introduced 4 or 5 finger multitouch navigation gestures in the iOS 4.3 for iPad beta with language that indicates they may or may not be bound for primetime:

We are providing this preview before releasing them to the public to understand how these gestures work with your apps. Test them and give us your feedback on the Apple Developer Forums.

The new gestures don't replace the Home Button but do reduce the amount of times you need to single or double click it, which could reduce concerns of hardware wear and tear post iOS 4.

The new gestures can be done with 4 or 5 fingers and resemble multitouch trackpad gestures available on Mac OS X since the introduction of the original MacBook Air in 2008 and expanded upon in the recent Mac OS X 10.7 Lion preview given by Steve Jobs at the Back to the Mac event. The gestures currently include

• Pinch all fingers in to exit an app and return to the Home Screen (identical to single-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe up from the bottom bezel to reveal the multitasking Fast App Switcher Dock (identical to double-clicking the Home Button).
• Swipe sideways from left to right or right to left to move between recently open apps (similar to double-clicking the Home Button to reveal the Fast App Switcher and tapping on an app icon immediately to right).

The sideways swipe is interesting in that it allows you to go left or right whereas the Fast App Switcher reorders the recent app icons so you always go backwards in "time" to the right. It seems perceptively faster for a single app-back movement since there's no carousel animation, yet you can only swipe back one app at a time whereas you can tap on any of 4 immediately available app icons in the Fast App Switcher and swipe back 4 additional apps at a time.

Performance on the current generation iPad, however, is hampered by lack of RAM. With only 256MB many apps will need to reload when you swipe back to them (at least so far in the beta). An iPad 2 with 512MB -- or better yet 1GB -- would fly with this system (just sayin'...).

Mute widget (iPad only)

When iPad shipped with iOS 3.2 the hardware switch above the volume rocker was set to lock or unlock screen orientation. In iOS 4.2 it was changed to a mute/un-mute switch like iPhone. Uncharacteristically, Apple has now added a Settings toggle to let the user choose which function they want the switch to perform. Since iOS 4.2 added a software orientation lock widget in the multitasking Fast App Switcher dock, iOS 4.3 now also toggles between that widget and a software mute button to fill whichever function is no longer being provided by the hardware switch. (Hardware switch set to orientation lock means dock widget becomes mute button and vice-versa.)

Photos

As mentioned above, you now have the ability to send recorded videos out over AirPlay to Apple TV, something which was noticeably missing when the feature was introduced in iOS 4.2.

Notes

iOS 4.2 finally let us change the Notes font from Marker Felt to something -- anything -- else, as long as that anything else was Helvetica or Chalkboard. Well it turns out Chalkboard wasn't long for this world as it has been replaced in iOS 4.3 with Noteworthy.

App Store

The App Store gets a new design for the Updates page.

iAds

For developers, iAds can now go full screen. That includes the big iPad screen, which Apple says allow for "immersive, interactive iAd experience". They also say the new banner format is easy to implement.

HTTP Live Streaming metrics

HTTP Live Streaming, the technology Apple uses to stream high quality video including their own press conferences and events, now includes viewer engagement and performance metrics. This is intended to help developers fine tune and optimize their content.

iTunes

iOS 4.2 beta 2 brings a new set of push notifications to the table -- for Apple's Ping social musical network. So if you've been dying to know what Phil Schiller -- or Chad -- has bought, liked, or commented on in iTunes as instantaneously as possible you'll get your wish just as soon as iOS 4.3 ships.

Settings

Not only does Settings hide the usually interesting tweaks found in any new iOS version but this time it's home to one of the marquee new features -- Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot.

Personal Hotspot (iPhone only)

Freshly sandwiched in between VPN and Notifications for iPhone users is the new top-level Personal Hotspot setting. (It also find it in Settings: General: Network: Personal Hotspot, where it replaces the previous Tethering setting, but why dig that deep when you no longer have to?)

When you tap Personal Hotspot you're taken to a screen that lets you toggle it on or off (why can't we do this top-level like Airplane Mode or VPN?) along with your -- visible -- current WPA access point password (with no choice to hide it). Instructions on how "to connect using Wi-Fi" have been added to the previous tethering instructions for Bluetooth and USB. As before with Bluetooth, if you don't have Wi-Fi enabled you'll get a popup asking if you'd like to enable it or if you'd prefer to tether via Bluetooth (if that's enabled) or USB.

You can change your WPA password by tapping on it, and you're warned the new password must be at least 8 characters long (we recommend something not easily guessed like "password") and that changing the password will disconnect any currently connected devices.

When activated you get the same blue bar across the top of your iPhone that tethering presented under iOS 3 and iOS 4, though renamed Personal Hotspot and now indicating the number of devices connected (up to a maximum of 5).

Location Services

Location Services has also been promoted to top level in iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. (see iPhone screenshot above, iPad screen shot below)

General: Restrictions

If you don't want your children discovering new, electronic hipster songs on Apple's social music network, Ping, iOS 4.3 lets you disable it via the Parental Controls.

General: Use Side Switch to (iPad only)

The iPad's hardware switch, originally released as an orientation lock/unlock in iOS 3.2 and changed to an iPhone-like mute/un-mute switch in iOS 4.2 now becomes user assignable in iOS 4.3. Yes, with a simple checkbox you can choose which way you personally like it.

As mentioned up top, whichever option you do not choose becomes a software control in the multitasking Fast App Switcher dock.

General: Multitasking Gestures (iPad only)

A simple toggle allows you to turn on or off the new multitasking navigation gestures (see the description under system-wide changes, above).

(If you don't see the setting try connecting your iPad to Xcode and hitting the "use this device for development" button.)

Messages (iPhone only)

The settings for Messages now allow you to choose how many times you want SMS/MMS alerts to sound, repeated at two minute intervals. Choices include:

• Once
• Twice
• 3 Times
• 5 Times
• 10 Times.

Notes

As mentioned previously, Noteworthy replaces Chalkboard in the Notes settings.

Phone + Contacts

A minor but likely very welcome change in iOS 4.3 beta sees the addition of a wait button to the add contact phone number's extended keyboard and the rejiggering of some of the other buttons like pause.

Safari

Hopefully Apple's comments about AirPlay supporting web content means we'll be able to stream H.264 video from Safari to Apple TV as well under iOS 4.3.

In addition we'd expect Apple adds whatever other HTML 5, CSS, and Nitro (their JavaScript rendering engine) improvements they've made since iOS 4.2 shipped.

Hints at more

As is often the case, iOS 4.3 beta 1 contains strings and refrences that hint at even more features, including those for future devices.

• Find My Friends feature hidden in iOS 4.3?
• iOS 4.3 beta points to iPad 2 cameras but no Retina Display
• iPhone 5, iPad 2 model numbers found lurking in iOS 4.3

Pricing and compatibility

No iOS 4.3 pricing information has been made available but we'll go out on a limb and say it'll likely be free for everyone and all devices, same as iOS 4.2.

Compatibility, however, is so far even more restricted that iOS 4 -- namely iPhone 3G/iPod touch G2 do not have beta versions of iOS 4.3 to date.

• iPhone 4, iPod touch 4 (2010), iPad: All features
• iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 (2009): No features requiring iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4-type hardware (i.e. front facing camera)
• iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 (2008): not compatible/no update (yet?)
• iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 (2007): not compatible/no update

We'll update as soon as we find an official list from Apple.

Not concluded

It's possible Apple will supply additional new features in a future iOS 4.3 beta or even take some existing beta features away. As always, If you noticed we missed anything, drop us a note in the comments or send us an email and we'll update as needed.

iOS 4.2 is the grand unification update, the software that brings iPhone, iPod touch, and for the first time, iPad all onto the same version number and at the same time. Yes, it's the one firmware to rule them all.

Announced during Apple's 2010 special music event, for iPad's that have been running iOS 3.2 since launch back in April, the change is nothing short of a revelation. Multitasking, folders, and unified inbox from iOS 4.0 join Game Center and TV show rentals from iOS 4.1, and add in AirPlay video sharing and AirPrint wireless printing fresh to iOS 4.2.

Huge.

And we're going to take you through it, after the break!

(Note, if you're interested in iPhone or iPod touch, we've got a complete iOS 4.2 for iPhone walkthrough as well!)

What hasn't changed

Almost everything has changed this time. Likely because there's no weather or clock apps to ignore. Still, there doesn't seem to be anything new in Contacts yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled.

Huge update, we told you.

Hardware changes

No, that's not a typo. As you're read below, Apple has added a software orientation lock to iOS 4.2 for iPad, similar to how it works on iPhone. That means the previous, hardware-based orientation lock is no longer needed, so they've made that a mute switch like on iPhone. Yes, they really changed a hardware button. Yes, it will make iPhone owners less confused but it will mess with existing iPad owners.

Either way, be advised.

System-wide enhancements

Many of the system-wide enhancements that came with iOS 4.2 for iPhone were already present in IOS 3.2 for iPad -- spellcheck, text replacement, etc. And unfortunately, there's still no sign of VoiceControl, which both iPhone and iPod touch have. There is, however...

AirPlay

AirPlay is an evolution of Apple’s AirTunes system that used to let you stream music between iTunes on Windows or Mac and Apple TV or Airport Express connected speakers. AirPlay takes that to the next level, letting you stream video and pictures as well as music from iPad (or iPhone or iPod touch) and the new 2010 Apple TV. Built-in apps like iPod, Video, and YouTube can stream, but unfortunately it looks like all other apps, including Apple's own Safari and all App Store apps are currently limited to audio-only. Whether this is intentional or Apple simply ran out of time and didn't finish making public APIs for video is unknown but hopefully this will be expanded upon in a future update.

You can tell AirPlay is an option when its icon appears to the right of the volume slider. It looks like a TV-style box with a triangle being inserted up into it. (Yeah, seriously). AirPlay compatible apps, when AirPlay compatible devices are present, will show the AirPlay icon as a button. Tap it and you get a list of devices you can stream to. Tap one and your video will switch from iPhone to TV. And since it’s called AirPlay and not AirView, here’s hoping Apple also expands the functionality in the future to project game video onto the big TV screen, leaving iPhone and iPod touch as a full on multitouch game controller. Hey, we can dream…

AirPrint

AirPrint is Apple's wireless printing service. By the time it ships, it should be able to send pages to almost any printer on the same Wi-Fi network, or to certain printers directly (HP ePrint have already been announced). Needless to say, this answers one huge piece of previously missing functionality. (The one it doesn't answer, and still isn't answered, is easier file transfer and sync).

AVRCP Audio/Video Remote Control Protocol for stereo Bluetooth

Yes, you can finally -- finally -- control volume, skip tracks, and do pretty much anything your stereo Bluetooth headset allows. Unfortunately, at least in my tests, volume changes on the headset don't show up on the iPhone's volume slider -- but they do work in both iTunes Store streaming and iPod apps.

Home Screen

SpringBoard, the app that runs the home screen and overall interface in iOS, finally gets the iOS 4 crown jewels of multitasking and folders, but there are a few small changes to go through first.

The little northeast pointing arrow that indicates a location-based service is running, be it Wi-Fi mapping or aGPS, now shows up in the status bar along the top, just like iOS 4 on iPhone.

The red bar that shows background VoIP is here, long and thin though it may be. (And yes, tapping it does indeed take you right back to your VoIP/Skype call).

Spotlight

There's more control inside Settings for Spotlight, but nothing in the search interface itself that we can find yet. If Apple were to create a true universal search, including for settings, app content, etc. like webOS 2.0 or BlackBerry OS 6, that would terrific.

Multitasking

While Apple's built-in apps (like iPod, Mail, etc.) have had background multitasking since iOS 1.0 for iPhone and iOS 3.2 for iPad, with iOS 4.2 it finally comes to 3rd party App Store apps.

As to how it works, instead of a traditional "leave full apps running in the background" approach, Apple instead chose to implement a more restricted but, they felt, better performing and power friendly solution involving 7 specific background API (application programming interfaces.)

Local notifications

In addition to the existing push notification service from Apple's servers, which provide sound, badges, and alert popups for everything from IM to VoIP calls, to game challenges, iOS 4.2 adds local notifications so something like an alarm-clock app could register an alert that would sit in the iPhone in the background until the proper time, then activate. That takes the online server out of the equation which is good for tasks that don't need additional information from the cloud, and so don't have to activate the radios.

Task completion

There's another API for task completion so that, for example, if you're uploading a picture to Flickr and leave the app, it can register a thread to keep uploading the picture in the background while you do something else. That means the entire app doesn't have to keep running, freeing up memory and lightening battery load, and even the thread will terminate when the upload is done.

Fast app switching and saved state

Fast app switching deals with the perceptive speed that multitasking offers. With iOS 3.2 if you left an App Store app it would shut down completely. If you went back -- regardless if it was a second or a week or later -- it would usually restart not from where you left off but from the beginning. A few developers tried to add persistence on their own, saving your place when you came back as best as previous OS versions allowed, but most didn't -- especially games. Also, if you closed one app and went to another, you could theoretically be stuck swiping back or forth between 11 home screen pages. And with a 9.5-inch screen, that could be a lot of swiping!

Saved state is now built into iOS 4.2 for iPad. If you switch out, Apps have their currents state recorded to memory and if/when you go back, the app checks the memory save and resumes from that state.

To enable fast app switching, Apple's created a new UI metaphor. Now, when you double tap the home button, the screen turns translucent and slides up, allowing you to peek at the apps running "in the background". (Technically frozen with state saved and threads registered with the background API).

Apps in the fast switcher UI are sorted in order of last usage. That means, if you're moving between a set of commonly used apps, they're most likely right next to each other and not screens and screens away. These two elements combine together to make launching apps perceptively much faster, even though the apps don't have to be running in the background consuming resources just for that convenience.

Positionally the fast app switcher replaces the space traditionally reserved for the Dock, so while it's a tad confusing the concept of apps at the bottom of the screen being more permanent and easily accessible remains. Behaviorally, while they look like a secret Dock, they function like the Home Screen itself in that you can swipe from right to left to scroll through a several 4-icon sets of multitasking apps.

Given iPad has only 256MB of RAM, we assume Apple will discretely kill off the least-used app in the stack when things get tight or a certain amount of time passes. That means, yes, sometimes you will come back to that game and have it start over rather than resuming, but resources on mobile devices -- they be constrained.

(Here's also hoping iPad 2 gets 512MB of RAM like iPhone 4 did.)

iOS 4.2 helps users visualize what's going on when switching apps by introducing a new, carousel-like animation. It's a bit different than the carousel style used in iPhone and iPod touch, more like panels swinging around, but it works well. The new animation occurs when you switch between two apps either via the new, double-click-Home to trigger to launch the multitasking UI, or when one app calls another app (i.e. when you're in Contacts and you tap to send a contact an SMS).

Launching or leaving an app retains the same, zoom-based effect as always.

Interlude: Task Killing

At the iOS 4 event, Steve Jobs likened task managers (in the multitasking, not to-do sense) to styluses -- if you need them there's something wrong. Initially this created confusion in iOS 4 when it was noted, if you hold your finger down on multitasking apps, they'd jiggle and bring up a delete icon that, if tapped, removed them. So um, yeah.

It appears like there's a couple things going on. First, with built-in Apple apps, like Mail, if you "delete" it from the fast app switcher, the service will re-spawn immediately so you will still receive Mail (it doesn't kill the background thread that checks, sounds/vibrates, and updates the badge). However, the respawn will sometimes fix issues of mail not loading properly, for example.

For App Store apps, if you "delete" them it flushes their saved state and forces them to reset and reload when next you launch them, i.e. they won't resume from the previously saved state and their threads seem to be restarted.

And yes, you can still hold down the Sleep/Wake button until the red Shut Down slider appears, then hold down the Home button until you return to the home screen, and that will flush the RAM and give you a general reset.

Widgets

Just like to the left of the main home screen is a special Spotlight screen, to the left of the fast app switcher is a special widget dock containing a software version of the iPad's previous hardware orientation lock control.

That's right. The hardware orientation lock button has been reassigned as a mute switch, to match the iPhone, and now orientation lock is software based. Unlike the iPhone, however, you can lock in both portrait and landscape mode.

More over, there are three circular music controls to skip back/rewind, play/pause, or skip ahead/fast forward whatever audio is currently queued up (including streaming music). Whichever app is currently playing the music, be it iPod, iTunes or Safari (streaming podcasts, for example), or an App Store app (like Pandora or Slacker) is shown at the right so you can jump back to it and access further controls.

iPad 4.2 also gets something more than iPhone -- it gets all the widgets in one dock, and it gets a brightness slider thrown in to boot. The extra screen real estate pays off with instant access to crank things down for reading or up for watching movies.

The presentation may not be as visually slick as Palm webOS' Card view (which looks like iPhone Safari's Page view) or Mac OS X Expose mode, but it keeps tens of millions of existing iPad users grounded in the interface they're familiar with and that's what Apple is prioritizing.

Background music, location, and VoIP

Speaking of streaming music, perhaps most famously, Apple is allowing apps to register three specific types of threads for persistent backgrounding (they can just keep running until you close them). Again, this isn't the whole app running, just one thread from the app, so the idea is it won't slow down performance, use up memory, or drain battery to the same degree. These API are for streaming music, location, and VoIP (voice over IP).

This means you can listen to Pandora, Slacker, etc. while surfing the web. Navigon, TeleNav,TomTom, etc. can keep using the GPS and alert you to directions while you're on the phone, and to further save resources, non-critical location apps like FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. can be alerted when you change cell towers. Fring, Skype, Line2, etc. can answer calls and receive messages when you're not in the app, making them more equal telephony citizens.

What's still missing are background API for timeline updates, so that IM, Twitter, RSS, etc. could update like Mail does and have new messages ready and waiting when you return to the app. Also, there's no API to let internet sessions like SSH, RDP/VNC remain active when you exit an app making it more onerous for network administrators and others to manage remote machines. Hopefully these can be added in future revisions.

Folders

There are umpteen hundreds of thousands of apps in the App Store, tens of thousands specifically for iPad, and more and more every day. With iOS 3.2 on iPad we had 11 pages for 180 apps viewable, but you could install many more and use Spotlight as a way of finding and launching them. And Organizing them efficiently? Forget about it.

Enter Folders. A Folder is simply a grouped icon that holds up to 20 other icons inside it. (And for those keeping count at home, the new math means a whopping 3600 apps can be kept available at once. Super hudder).

The way it works is you tap a Folder icon and once again the Home Screen fades and splits open, this time below the Folder. Inside the split are all the apps contained in the group.

To create a Folder, you begin by tapping and holding an icon to put it in jiggly mode, just like you did before to delete or move it. Then, drag it over and drop it on top of another icon to create a Folder. (This works better when icons aren't at the right edge of the screen, as the "get out of the way" behavior sometimes supersedes the Folder behavior, causing the icon to wrap to the next line before you can drop on top of it.) Once created, iOS reads the apps' category data and tries to name the folder for you, but you can easily edit it and change it to anything you want.

As you add apps to a folder, tiny representations of the apps icon appear inside the folder icon in a 3x3 grid. Since iOS 4.2 on iPad supports more app than the iPhone version, 20 instead o 12, as you add more than 9 apps, the grid of tiny icons scrolls up to show the new apps being added. Since 20 isn't divisible by 3, when you hit 19 or 20 that row contains only 2 icons. Once you leave jiggly mode, the folder icon scrolls back down to show only the first 9 icons again. So, if you need visual reminded for certain apps being in certain folders, make sure you add them first so they'll be visible.

To remove apps from a Folder, put them in jiggly mode inside the Folder and drag them out (or just delete them if you don't want the app anymore at all). You can also move them around within the Folder to customize their order.

Folders can be put in jiggly mode and moved as well, but not deleted (they can only be deleted by removing all the apps from within them, and which point they self-destruct for you). You can even move them to the Dock, which means you could have 120 apps readily available at any time for quick launching.

You can also manage them from iTunes 10's app interface if a mouse and keyboard helps you speed up the process. (Oh, the irony.)

And while you still can't delete Apple's built-in apps, you can take the ones you're not using and hide them away inside a folder so they waste as little Home Screen space as possible.

Again, not as visually exciting perhaps as Mac OS X's Stacks, but it keeps current iPhone users in a familiar interface while adding much-needed functionality.

Calendar

Calendar app appears to be functionally identical to iOS 3.2 but for the color scheme. The shades are all pastel now, just like iPhone on iOS 4.1. Full on Miami Vice light purples and greens and peaches and tones only Prismacolor has names for. No idea what this change was about.

Notes

Notes finally -- finally lets you change fonts. That's right, if Marker Felt was never your thing, you can now jump into Settings and switch it to Chalkboard (essentially Marker Felt with a shave and a haircut), and Helvetica, used by the rest of the interface.

Curiously -- and frustratingly -- there doesn't seem to be AirPrint support for Notes.

Maps

A minor tweak, but the current location/current direction button changes from the previous crosshairs to a north-east pointer to match the new location services icon used in the title bar, much like the iPhone's did under iOS 4.0.

Video

Video, the app that unlike the iPhone but like the iPod touch houses all movie, TV, and video podcasts on iPad, enjoys AirPlay integration so all of the preceding should be able to easily stream to the 2010 Apple TV (and perhaps 3rd party AirPlay devices one day, if any offer video support).

YouTube

YouTube only gets a minor update this time, which is kind of disappointing given how great YouTube has been making YouTube.com work for iOS devices. In any event, if you've ever wished you could give a YouTube video the old thumbs up or thumbs down right on your iPad, the you're in luck.

And, of course, the AirPlay is right there, giving us hope any HTML 5 video will be instantly transportable to the TV.

iTunes Store

iTunes store gets AirPlay too in case you want to stream a video podcast and shoot it over to your 2010 Apple TV. Speaking of streaming, thanks to iOS 4.2 background audio, streaming on iPad is now as rock solid as it's been on iPhone since 4.0.

Most of the time you can scrub and it re-buffers and keeps playing flawlessly. You can stop it and come back hours or even days later -- even after using the iTunes app to search for other things or the iPod app to play different audio -- and it still knows where you left off and starts playing again instantly without missing a beat. I almost never download podcasts anymore. That's how good the streaming is now (especially if you're mobile with an iPad 3G).

Ping

Ping isn't exclusive to iOS 4.1 -- it's already available to iOS 4.0.x users -- but Apple is touting it as a new feature and it's being launched at roughly the same time, so it makes some amount of sense to fold it in here for easy reference.

A social music network, Ping debuted with iTunes 10 but only became accessible on iPad with iTunes 10.1 and iOS 4.2. You get to it via the double talk bubbles tab, bottom middle. If you haven't yet synced your iPad with iTunes 10.1, you'll get a Ping splash screen telling you to do so. Why it can't just ask for your login like Twitter or Facebook and even Apple's own Game Center is beyond me. Cut the tether already.

Once you've signed on, the Ping tab will come up with the Activities view. Activities show what's going on with the people you've followed -- status, pictures, and videos from recording artists like Lady GaGa, and comments, likes, and shared music from friends. It gives you the ability to like or comment on any of those things and, of course, instant access to preview and purchase the music being liked or commented on in iTunes. That also means there's currently no way to share or discuss music that's not in iTunes, specifically in your local country's iTunes store, which can be frustration for Beatles fans in the US, and fans of far, far more artists internationally.

Actions are fairly simple. To like or add a comment to an activity, tap the appropriate button. To preview or purchase a song that was posted, tap anywhere on the song widget, from album art to title. To be taken to the song's album, double tap on the title.

The People tab gives you a list of people you follow and people who follow you, as well as a featured button for a list of recording artists.

Tapping on a person gives you profile page with recent activity and an easy follow/stop following toggle. You can also switch to an info view that contains a short bio and buttons to see the person follows and who follows them. Similar to Twitter, people can either let anyone follow them or decide to approve followers on a person to person basis.

The My Profile view, as the name suggests, shows you your own recent activity and, at the bottom, has a button for My Info that shows you your own profile. You can't (yet?) edit this info on iOS, however, and will need to go back to iTunes 10 on Mac/Windows for that.

I'm not sure if it's the blank loading screen, but iTunes Store has never felt like the snappiest app on iOS and including Ping inside it likewise makes it feel less snappy than Twitter or Facebook. It also doesn't seem to save state of, or cache, the tabs - perhaps because they're web pages being re-loaded each time - which makes the experience of moving between apps seem sluggish. There's also no refresh feature, you need to switch between tabs to check for new data, and sit through more reload screens...

At least Apple finally added social integration, albeit by way of Twitter and not Facebook as they'd originally tried. Most of that seems to live inside the desktop iTunes, where you can link your Twitter account, find people you follow on Twitter, and friend them on Ping as well. What you like on Ping then gets tweeted to your Twitter account. That could be to your liking or incredibly not.

TV show rentals

The other addition is TV show rentals. They're only available in the US and from ABC (whose parent company, Disney, counts Steve Jobs as its biggest share holder), and FOX (whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, sees mobile devices as a way to save old media), and cost $0.99 per episode. You have 30 days to start watching and 48hrs. to finish once you start.

Ping

Ping hasn't show up in iOS 4.2, but since the UI is web-based Apple can update it at any time, so it's almost certainly will be coming to the iPad with this release. We'll update when it shows up. It will be interesting to see what Apples does to balance the rather awkward iTunes Windows/Mac UI with the fairly standard iOS on iPhone UI.

App Store - iAds

App Store, like iTunes Store is mostly just a thin app container around constantly updated web content, but Apple has snuck something new in this time, if not for users than at least for developers. And yeah, we're talking about iAds...

iAd

Okay, so iAd really shouldn't be considered a feature, at least not for users, but it will be a feature of iOS 4.2 for developers, and it will go in apps, so we're mentioning it here.

iAd will provide developers with an easy-as-Xcode way to place advertising in their apps, both paid and free. Apple is setting a high bar for their ads, however. No simple Google-style text, annoying punch-the-monkey, or jarring transition out of the app and into the browser, they claim to want great looking, highly interactive, emotionally compelling content that will connect with rather than alienate users. Served every 3 minutes...

Settings

Settings is a boring app that often contains a great number of terrific surprises when it comes to Apple iOS updates. iOS 4.2 for iPad is no exception.

Brightness & Wallpaper

iPad gets all the wallpapers that iPhone got with iOS 4, some of them re-rendered to look even sharper on the big 9.7-inch screen.

General: Location Services

Since Apple is, post Google-breakup, awfully serious about user privacy, Location Services get a new Settings tab that lets you turn them off completely, but also turn them off in each app separately if you like.

General: Passcode lock

iOS 4.2 brings alphanumeric passcodes to iPad by default (no more configuration file required). Turn it on and you can have a nice, strong, even gnarly pseudorandom string... if you can remember it.

And yes, you get the Vader-black keyboard standard if you flip that switch.

General: Restrictions

To the list of things you can lock down and lock out, iOS 4.2 adds Deleting Apps, no doubt to the cheers of parents with young children everywhere. You can also prevent changes to location services (so your kids can't stop you tracking them, unless they're hax0rs) and email accounts.

If you don't want them playing multiplayer Game Center games, you can stamp that out as well. You can even turn off friend requests.

General: Keyboard

iOS 4 spell check causing more problems for you than it's fixing? No problem, you can now turn it off.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Gmail is dead, long live Google Mail.

Inside MobileMe, Google Mail, or other IMAP accounts, you can choose whether or not to enable sync. Again, there’s no support for Exchange ActiveSync accounts yet (including Gmail via GoogleSync).

Because mail now supports threaded email messages, Settings now gives you the option to turn that feature on or off.

Notes

Notes now has its own Settings tab because, as mentioned previously, you can now change the font in Notes, and here's where you do it.

You can also choose the default account for Notes sync if you have more than one IMAP mail account set up.

Game Center

Game Center, Apple's social gaming network went live with iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch and comes to the iPad with iOS 4.2. As of this writing, Apple has a Game Center section set up in the App Store to help you find games that support it. To start off, you can create or login to an account, update your status, and add friends.

And yes, on iPad Game Center takes advantage of the full screen. You get a double column-view instead of single like on iPhone, and that means your lists (like friends) will on the left and the detail view (like stats) will be on the right.

Also, the sign in/welcome screen currently shows a number of app icons "dealt" card-like across Game Center's game table style UI. Tapping them does indeed take you to the App Store to get the game.

You can also see a list of your games that support Game Center. Tapping on one gives you general info and the ability to hit Play and go straight to the game. Tapping on Leaderboards lets you see top scores for Today, This Week, and All Time.

Achievements shows everything you can earn for playing the game.

Safari

iOS 4.2 finally gives iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad the ability to find text on a Safari web page. This is similar to Windows or Mac, where you just hit CTL-F or CMD-F, type your text, and off you go. On iPad Safari you use the regular old search field (still confusingly labeled Google by default) and start typing the text you want to find.

Where previously you only got suggested search terms, now you get an additional section at the bottom to find the word on the page. Tap it and the first match on the page is highlighted in yellow and a set of buttons slide up on the bottom for "Next" and "Done", as well as a counter for how many matches of the word there are on the page, and which one is currently highlighted (e.g., 7/16). Hit next until you find the one you want, hit done when you're finished. If you want to change the find term, the search box is repositioned alongside the controls to make it convenient.

No more tedious manual scanning, no more javascript bookmarklet workaround. Just happy surfing.

The previous + icon, for adding bookmarks and Web Clips is gone, replaced by the Action button found in other apps. Hitting the action button gives you all the same options as before, but now also includes AirPrint.

AirPlay will show up inline for videos where compatible but is currently limited to audio only.

Behind the scenes, Apple has added support for the accelerometer and gyroscope and generally improved HTML 5 support. (That means the potential for more, better web apps in the future.)

Mail

iOS 4.2 for iPad Mail gets a unified inbox just like iPhone has had since iOS 4.0. For those with multiple email accounts whose previous iPad experience involved tapping into and out of those boxes many, many times a day this is a hugely welcome addition.

Unlike iPhone, the split column view of iPad lets you see your inbox choices on the left in landscape mode and in popover in portrait so it can be even faster to move around. The list includes all Inboxes, a specific account's inbox (which is considered fast inbox switching), or into the complete folder and sub-folder system of a given account (how Mail has worked in iOS 3.2).

Once inside, All Inboxes is visually indistinguishable from an account-specific inbox, it simply contains all of their messages.

What is distinguishable are the carets (technically greater-than symbols) to the right of certain messages that indicate a message is part of a thread. A number, typically 2 or 3, accompanies the caret to indicate how many replies are in the thread.

Tapping on a message that's part of a thread gives a second list of all messages in the thread. Tapping on one of them shows you the message in the main column.

A thread view contains a small vertical bar at the top with the subject of the thread and time of the most recent reply. A button to the top left of the message contains the name of the inbox you came from so you can back out again, leave the thread completely, and see all your messages.

So yes, the tap, tap, tap of inbox navigation persists, albeit shifted from moving into and out of inboxes to moving into and out of threaded messages.

Great news for heavy ActiveSync users, iOS 4 supports multiple accounts. So, for example, you can now have your work Exchange server and home Google account both set up to push through ActiveSync (which is what Google Sync users behind the scenes) at the same time.

Also for Gmail users, the Delete button has now been properly renamed as Archive (since Google really doesn't want you deleting anything if they can possibly help it), and the trashcan replaced with a storage box icon.

Lastly, in iOS 3.2, when you wanted to abandon an email, you would hit Cancel and get options to Save (store the email in Drafts), Don't Save (trash the email), and Cancel (go back to writing the email). The naming of these options was likely too confusing so in iOS 4.x they've been replaced with a big red Delete Draft button (to trash the email) and Save Draft.

Photos

Photos get a bump in the functionality department, primarily through the Action button getting AirPrint. Just tap, choose a compatible printer, and your photos go wirelessly from iPad digital to hardcopy ink or laser.

Photos also get AirPlay and you can swipe through them and watch them change on Apple TV. Unfortunately AirPlay for video isn't supported.

iPod

iPod on iOS 3.2 for iPad was fairly well rounded already, so the bump up to 4.2 seems fairly minor at this point. You get AirPlay, so you can send music to Air Port express speakers, or video to the 2010 Apple TV.

Availability

iOS 4.2 is a free update currently in Gold Master (GM) for final testing, and unless anything major comes up, it should be released this week.

Conclusion

iOS 4.2 on iPad is a revelation. It's the way iPad is meant to be. That's not to say it's perfect or has every feature on every geek's wish list -- it certainly doesn't -- but it has enough new functionality to make iPad much more valuable.

Like with iOS 4 on iPhone, multitasking and folders extend the existing UI in a way that gives power users what they need, but keeps casual users either grounded in familiar metaphor, and feature-phone types blissfully unaware it's even there.

AirPrint addresses an important bit of functionality for home and business alike, and AirPlay has the potential to turn the TV video scene upside down.

Sure, non-obtrusive notifications, and glanceable, lock-screen widgets -- and hey, AirEasyFileTransfer -- would be grand, but iOS 5 beta is only 4 months or so away...

For now, we'll just thank Apple's iOS team again -- this is one hell of an update. If you notice anything we've missed, send us an email or drop a note in the comments and we'll add them to the next update.

iOS 4.2 for iPhone is small update to iOS 4 and iOS 4.1 that adds marquee new features like AirVideo and AirPlay, fixes some bugs, but most importantly brings the iOS platform into grand unification, with iPhone, iPod touch, and -- finally -- iPad all on the same version number.

(Note, if you're interested in iPad, check out our complete iOS 4.2 for iPad walkthrough as well!)

If you don’t have time (yet) to read this through this whole article and are eager to get the basics down now, there's a video up top to tell you everything you need to know in just over 5 minutes.

We’re showing it off on an iPhone 4 and an iPod touch 4. Functionality is almost identical, just the telephony (i.e. text tones) don't work on iPod touch 4, of course.

What hasn't changed

We'll be covering what's new and improved below, so for what hasn't changed be sure to check out our massive iOS 4 walkthrough and iOS 4.1 update walkthrough because we won't be repeating all that here.

System-wide changes

AirPrint

AirPrint is Apple's wireless printing service. By the time it ships, it should be able to send pages to almost any printer on the same Wi-Fi network, or to certain printers directly (HP ePrint have already been announced). Needless to say, this answers one huge piece of previously missing functionality. (The one it doesn't answer, and still isn't answered, is easier file transfer and sync).

AirPlay

AirPlay is an evolution of Apple's AirTunes system that used to let you stream music between iTunes on Windows or Mac and Apple TV or Airport Express connected speakers. AirPlay takes that to the next level, letting you stream video and pictures as well as music from iPad (or iPhone or iPod touch) and the new 2010 Apple TV. Built-in apps like iPod, Video, and YouTube can stream, but unfortunately it looks like all other apps, including Apple's own Safari and all App Store apps are currently limited to audio-only. Whether this is intentional or Apple simply ran out of time and didn't finish making public APIs for video is unknown but hopefully this will be expanded upon in a future update.

You can tell AirPlay is an option when its icon appears to the right of the volume slider. It looks like a TV-style box with a triangle being inserted up into it. (Yeah, seriously). AirPlay compatible apps, when AirPlay compatible devices are present, will show the AirPlay icon as a button. Tap it and you get a list of devices you can stream to. Tap one and your video will switch from iPhone to TV. And since it's called AirPlay and not AirView, here's hoping Apple expands the functionality in the future to project game video onto the big TV screen, leaving iPhone and iPod touch as a full on multitouch game controller. Hey, we can dream...

Home Screen

SpringBoard, the app that runs the home screen and overall interface in iOS, gets its multitasking dock UI tweaked. Now, after you double press the home button to bring up the fast app switcher, you can swipe left to get to the audio controls and orientation lock as before, but you can also swipe left again to get to a new volume slider and AirPlay control.

Since iPhone has hardware volume controls, it may seem a little redundant, but perhaps it will independently control AirPlay video in the future.

Messages

Messages gets an extra button at the very top of the threaded view that, right in the middle between call and contact info -- FaceTime.

When you're exchanging SMS or MMS, just tap it to launch into a FaceTime video call (if you're both on an iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4, and on Wi-Fi, of course...)

Photos

Photos gets AirPrint now so you can quickly snap a shot and beam it to a nearby printer. Ultra-modern technology meets age-old media memories. Just tap the action button and, not surprisingly, print will be a new option at the bottom.

Print is also now an option when you multi-select.

What is surprising, however, is that there's no AirPlay button in the Photo app when it's playing movies. Since quickly recording a home movie and beaming it to our TV is one of the features we love most, that's a bit of an annoyance. Hopefully Apple will add that in an update.

YouTube

YouTube gets AirPlay, of course, so you can beam YouTube videos to Apple TV... which has a built-in YouTube app already. However, the convenience of being able to play an already-found video on the big screen rather than having to look for it again is certainly appreciated.

Also, gone are the old star ratings and in their place are the cheesy thumbs up and thumbs down. From a scale of 5 to a scale of 2? It's simpler and more YouTube, if missing the subtle iTunes-like gradations of the past.

Notes

Notes finally -- finally! -- lets you change fonts. That's right, if Marker Felt was never your thing, you can now jump into Settings and switch it to Chalkboard (essentially Marker Felt with a shave and a haircut), and Helvetica, used by the rest of the interface. Here's a mockup we created to show all three fonts together for comparison's sake.

Curiously, there doesn't seem to be an AirPrint option in Notes. It would certainly be handy.

Voice Memo

iOS 4.2 for iPhone brings with it a new Voice Memo icon and with it the most drastic redesign of a built-in iOS app icon to date. Sure, Calculator got a facelift recently, but it retained that pseudo-realistic look and feel Apple used for the other “utility” apps, like Compass and Camera. Voice Memo goes from faux microphone to strictly white icon, similar now to Phone or iPod, but without the diagonal pin stripe. If it was in the dock it might fit, but grouped in the default Utility folder, it kind of sticks out.

iTunes Store

iTunes store gets AirPlay too in case you want to stream a video podcast and shoot it over to your 2010 Apple TV. What, you wanted something as big as iOS 4.1's Ping?

Settings

As always, Settings is the least glamorous built-in app in the lineup that just so happens to get a bunch of tweaks and changes to support new features added to the system and flashier apps.

Sounds

You can now prevent the physical hardware volume buttons from affecting ringers and alerts, if you so choose.

The good news for iPhone users is, Apple has finally increased the number of text tones. The bad news is, most don't seem well suited for use as text tones, and while you can now set personalized tones for different contacts, you still can't buy or create custom text tones.

New tones include Anticipate, Bloom, Calypso, Choo Choo, Descent, Fanfare, Ladder, Minuet, News Flash, Noir, Sherwood Forest, Spell, Suspense, Telegraph, Tiptoes, Typewriters, and Update. You can hear samples from each in the video at the very top of this walkthrough.

General: Restrictions

You can now prevent people (i.e. your young children) from deleting apps. It's amazing how fast a 4 year old can yank everything from the dock and obliterate every app on your home screen. No longer. Parents of the world rejoice. You can also prevent the little tykes from changing Location Services (e.g. GPS) and email accounts.

You can also now prevent your kids from accepting Game Center friend requests, thus ensuring their online play remain strictly anti-social and (potentially more) secure.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Interestingly, when setting up a MobileMe account, you're now presented with the opportunity to enter either your MobileMe or Apple ID credentials. We'll have to wait and see what, if anything, this means.

Notes

Notes now has its own Settings tab because, as mentioned previously, you can now change the font in Notes, and here's where you do it.

Phone + Contacts

In both Phone and in the Contacts apps proper, you can now choose to set a distinct text tone (SMS/MMS) for each contact. So if you want mom to remain good old Tri-Tone but dad to be Choo Choo, have at it!

Just tap edit, scroll down to Text Tone, and then choose from the same list shown in Settings, above.

Safari

iOS 4.2 finally gives iPhone and iPod touch the ability to find text on a Safari web page. This is similar to Windows or Mac, where you just hit CTL-F or CMD-F, type your text, and off you go. On iPhone Safari you use the regular old search field (still confusingly labeled Google by default) and start typing the text you want to find.

Where previously you only got suggested search terms, now you get an additional section at the bottom to find the word on the page. Tap it and the first match on the page is highlighted in yellow and a set of buttons slide up on the bottom for "Next" and "Done", as well as a counter for how many matches of the word there are on the page, and which one is currently highlighted (e.g., 7/16). Hit next until you find the one you want, hit done when you're finished. If you want to change the find term, the search box is repositioned alongside the controls to make it convenient.

No more tedious manual scanning, no more javascript bookmarklet workaround. Just happy surfing.

The previous + icon, for adding bookmarks and Web Clips is gone, replaced by the Action button found in other apps. Hitting the action button gives you all the same options as before, but now also includes AirPrint.

AirPlay will show up when you're playing videos in Safari but currently only supports audio.

Behind the scenes, Apple has added support for the accelerometer and gyroscope and generally improved HTML 5 support. (That means the potential for more, better web apps in the future.)

With this support, Augmented Reality is now possible as well, right in Safari.

iPod (Music/Video)

As we're sure you guessed by now, the major addition to the iPod app for iPhone (and Music and Video apps for iPod touch) is airplay. So, you can send any music to Airport express speakers, or video to the Apple TV (2010).

iOS 4.2 pricing and compatibility

iOS 4.2 is a free update for iPhone users and for iPod touch users.

Compatibility should be the same as with iOS 4.

• iPhone 4, iPod touch 4 (2010): All features
• iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 (2009): No features requiring iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4-type hardware (i.e. front facing camera)
• iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 (2008): No features that require higher processor or RAM
• iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 (2007): not compatible/no update

We'll update as soon as we find an official list from Apple.

Conclusion

While iOS 4.2 for iPhone and iPod touch is nowhere near as significant an update as iOS 4.2 for iPad, that's only because iPhone and iPod touch have enjoyed iOS 4 features since June. From small but long missing features like Find in Safari, to annoyances like Marker Felt in Notes, to the start of individual Text Tones in Messages, Apple is continuing the steady improvement of iOS.

It's still not perfect, it still suffers from the age-old gripes of poor notification handling among other things, there's still no good, SIRI-infused, OS-wide VoiceControl system, etc. etc. but those are not the stuff of minor updates. iOS 5 will no doubt be previewed in 4 months or so and then we'll see to the bigger issues.

For now iOS 4.2 not only does what it set out to -- unify the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the same release -- but with welcome additions like AirPrint and AirVideo -- if it really takes off -- it could be the beginnings of something transformative.

And as always, If you noticed we missed anything, drop us a note in the comments or send us an email and we'll update as needed.

iOS 4.2 is the grand unification update, the software that brings iPhone, iPod touch, and for the first time, iPad all onto the same version number and at the same time. Yes, it's the one firmware to rule them all.

Announced during Apple's 2010 special music event, its in beta as of September 15, and will become available to the public sometime in November. For iPhone and iPod touch already running iOS 4.1, the feature list is short. For iPad's that have been running iOS 3.2 since launch back in April, the change is nothing short of a revelation. Multitasking, folders, and unified inbox from iOS 4.0 join Game Center and TV show rentals from iOS 4.1, and add in AirPlay video sharing and AirPrint wireless printing fresh to iOS 4.2.

Huge.

And we're going to take you through it, after the break!

Previously

iOS 4 is new to iPad but it's not new to iPhone or iPod touch. To see what came previously in iOS 4, check out:

• iOS 4.1 walkthrough
• iOS 4 walkthrough

What hasn't changed

Almost everything has changed this time. Likely because there's no weather or clock apps to ignore. Still, there doesn't seem to be anything new in Contacts yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled.

Huge update, we told you.

Hardware changes

No, that's not a typo. As you're read below, Apple has added a software orientation lock to iOS 4.2 for iPad, similar to how it works on iPhone. That means the previous, hardware-based orientation lock is no longer needed, so they've made that a mute switch like on iPhone. Yes, they really changed a hardware button. Yes, it will make iPhone owners less confused but it will mess with existing iPad owners.

Either way, be advised.

System-wide enhancements

Many of the system-wide enhancements that came with iOS 4.2 for iPhone were already present in IOS 3.2 for iPad -- spellcheck, text replacement, etc. And unfortunately, there's still no sign of VoiceControl, which both iPhone and iPod touch have. There is, however...

AirPlay

AirPlay is an evolution of Apple's AirTunes system that used to let you stream music between iTunes on Windows or Mac and Apple TV or Airport Express connected speakers. AirPlay takes that to the next level, letting you stream video and pictures as well as music from iPad (or iPhone or iPod touch) and the new 2010 Apple TV. Built in apps like iPod, Photo, Video, etc. can stream, but it looks like any App Store apps that use the built in video system can also stream if they so choose. We'll have to wait and see if that functionality makes it out of beta, and which apps choose to implement it, but if apps like Hulu, Air Video, etc. integrate, it could be killer.

And since it's called AirPlay and not AirView, here's hoping Apple expands the functionality in the future to project game video onto the big TV screen, leaving iPad as a full on multitouch game controller. Hey, we can dream...

AirPlay compatible apps, when AirPlay compatible devices are present, will show the AirPlay icon as a button. Tap it and you get a list of devices you can stream to. Tap one and your video will switch from iPad to TV.

AirPrint

AirPrint is Apple's wireless printing service. By the time it ships, it should be able to send pages to almost any printer on the same Wi-Fi network, or to certain printers directly (HP ePrint have already been announced). Needless to say, this answers one huge piece of previously missing functionality. (The one it doesn't answer, and still isn't answered, is easier file transfer and sync).

AVRCP Audio/Video Remote Control Protocol for stereo Bluetooth

Yes, you can finally -- finally -- control volume, skip tracks, and do pretty much anything your stereo Bluetooth headset allows. Unfortunately, at least in my tests, volume changes on the headset don't show up on the iPhone's volume slider -- but they do work in both iTunes Store streaming and iPod apps.

Home Screen

SpringBoard, the app that runs the home screen and overall interface in iOS, finally gets the iOS 4 crown jewels of multitasking and folders, but there are a few small changes to go through first.

The little northeast pointing arrow that indicates a location-based service is running, be it Wi-Fi mapping or aGPS, now shows up in the status bar along the top, just like iOS 4 on iPhone.

The red bar that shows background VoIP is here, long and thin though it may be. (And yes, tapping it does indeed take you right back to your VoIP/Skype call).

Spotlight

There's more control inside Settings for Spotlight, but nothing in the search interface itself that we can find yet. If Apple were to create a true universal search, including for settings, app content, etc. like webOS 2.0 or BlackBerry OS 6, that would terrific.

Multitasking

While Apple's built-in apps (like iPod, Mail, etc.) have had background multitasking since iOS 1.0 for iPhone and iOS 3.2 for iPad, with iOS 4.2 it finally comes to 3rd party App Store apps.

As to how it works, instead of a traditional "leave full apps running in the background" approach, Apple instead chose to implement a more restricted but, they felt, better performing and power friendly solution involving 7 specific background API (application programming interfaces.)

Local notifications

In addition to the existing push notification service from Apple's servers, which provide sound, badges, and alert popups for everything from IM to VoIP calls, to game challenges, iOS 4.2 adds local notifications so something like an alarm-clock app could register an alert that would sit in the iPhone in the background until the proper time, then activate. That takes the online server out of the equation which is good for tasks that don't need additional information from the cloud, and so don't have to activate the radios.

Task completion

There's another API for task completion so that, for example, if you're uploading a picture to Flickr and leave the app, it can register a thread to keep uploading the picture in the background while you do something else. That means the entire app doesn't have to keep running, freeing up memory and lightening battery load, and even the thread will terminate when the upload is done.

Fast app switching and saved state

Fast app switching deals with the perceptive speed that multitasking offers. With iOS 3.2 if you left an App Store app it would shut down completely. If you went back -- regardless if it was a second or a week or later -- it would usually restart not from where you left off but from the beginning. A few developers tried to add persistence on their own, saving your place when you came back as best as previous OS versions allowed, but most didn't -- especially games. Also, if you closed one app and went to another, you could theoretically be stuck swiping back or forth between 11 home screen pages. And with a 9.5-inch screen, that could be a lot of swiping!

Saved state is now built into iOS 4.2 for iPad. If you switch out, Apps have their currents state recorded to memory and if/when you go back, the app checks the memory save and resumes from that state.

To enable fast app switching, Apple's created a new UI metaphor. Now, when you double tap the home button, the screen turns translucent and slides up, allowing you to peek at the apps running "in the background". (Technically frozen with state saved and threads registered with the background API).

Apps in the fast switcher UI are sorted in order of last usage. That means, if you're moving between a set of commonly used apps, they're most likely right next to each other and not screens and screens away. These two elements combine together to make launching apps perceptively much faster, even though the apps don't have to be running in the background consuming resources just for that convenience.

Positionally the fast app switcher replaces the space traditionally reserved for the Dock, so while it's a tad confusing the concept of apps at the bottom of the screen being more permanent and easily accessible remains. Behaviorally, while they look like a secret Dock, they function like the Home Screen itself in that you can swipe from right to left to scroll through a several 4-icon sets of multitasking apps.

Given iPad has only 256MB of RAM, we assume Apple will discretely kill off the least-used app in the stack when things get tight or a certain amount of time passes. That means, yes, sometimes you will come back to that game and have it start over rather than resuming, but resources on mobile devices -- they be constrained.

(Here's also hoping iPad 2 gets 512MB of RAM like iPhone 4 did.)

iOS 4.2 helps users visualize what's going on when switching apps by introducing a new, carousel-like animation. The new animation occurs when you switch between two apps either via the new, double-click-Home to trigger to launch the multitasking UI, or when one app calls another app (i.e. when you're in Contacts and you tap to send a contact an SMS).

Launching or leaving an app retains the same, zoom-based effect as always.

Interlude: Task Killing

At the iOS 4 event, Steve Jobs likened task managers (in the multitasking, not to-do sense) to styluses -- if you need them there's something wrong. Initially this created confusion in iOS 4 when it was noted, if you hold your finger down on multitasking apps, they'd jiggle and bring up a delete icon that, if tapped, removed them. So um, yeah.

It appears like there's a couple things going on. First, with built-in Apple apps, like Mail, if you "delete" it from the fast app switcher, the service will re-spawn immediately so you will still receive Mail (it doesn't kill the background thread that checks, sounds/vibrates, and updates the badge). However, the respawn will sometimes fix issues of mail not loading properly, for example.

For App Store apps, if you "delete" them it flushes their saved state and forces them to reset and reload when next you launch them, i.e. they won't resume from the previously saved state and their threads seem to be restarted.

And yes, you can still hold down the Sleep/Wake button until the red Shut Down slider appears, then hold down the Home button until you return to the home screen, and that will flush the RAM and give you a general reset.

Widgets

Just like to the left of the main home screen is a special Spotlight screen, to the left of the fast app switcher is a special widget dock containing a software version of the iPad's previous hardware orientation lock control.

That's right. The hardware orientation lock button has been reassigned as a mute switch, to match the iPhone, and now orientation lock is software based. Unlike the iPhone, however, you can lock in both portrait and landscape mode.

More over, there are three circular music controls to skip back/rewind, play/pause, or skip ahead/fast forward whatever audio is currently queued up (including streaming music). Whichever app is currently playing the music, be it iPod, iTunes or Safari (streaming podcasts, for example), or an App Store app (like Pandora or Slacker) is shown at the right so you can jump back to it and access further controls.

iPad 4.2 also gets something more than iPhone -- a brightness slider. The extra screen real estate pays off with instant access to crank things down for reading or up for watching movies.

The presentation may not be as visually slick as Palm webOS' Card view (which looks like iPhone Safari's Page view) or Mac OS X Expose mode, but it keeps tens of millions of existing iPad users grounded in the interface they're familiar with and that's what Apple is prioritizing.

Background music, location, and VoIP

Speaking of streaming music, perhaps most famously, Apple is allowing apps to register three specific types of threads for persistent backgrounding (they can just keep running until you close them). Again, this isn't the whole app running, just one thread from the app, so the idea is it won't slow down performance, use up memory, or drain battery to the same degree. These API are for streaming music, location, and VoIP (voice over IP).

This means you can listen to Pandora, Slacker, etc. while surfing the web. Navigon, TeleNav,TomTom, etc. can keep using the GPS and alert you to directions while you're on the phone, and to further save resources, non-critical location apps like FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. can be alerted when you change cell towers. Fring, Skype, Line2, etc. can answer calls and receive messages when you're not in the app, making them more equal telephony citizens.

What's still missing are background API for timeline updates, so that IM, Twitter, RSS, etc. could update like Mail does and have new messages ready and waiting when you return to the app. Also, there's no API to let internet sessions like SSH, RDP/VNC remain active when you exit an app making it more onerous for network administrators and others to manage remote machines. Hopefully these can be added in future revisions.

Folders

There are umpteen hundreds of thousands of apps in the App Store, tens of thousands specifically for iPad, and more and more every day. With iOS 3.2 on iPad we had 11 pages for 180 apps viewable, but you could install many more and use Spotlight as a way of finding and launching them. And Organizing them efficiently? Forget about it.

Enter Folders. A Folder is simply a grouped icon that holds up to 20 other icons inside it. (And for those keeping count at home, the new math means a whopping 3600 apps can be kept available at once. Super hudder).

The way it works is you tap a Folder icon and once again the Home Screen fades and splits open, this time below the Folder. Inside the split are all the apps contained in the group.

To create a Folder, you begin by tapping and holding an icon to put it in jiggly mode, just like you did before to delete or move it. Then, drag it over and drop it on top of another icon to create a Folder. (This works better when icons aren't at the right edge of the screen, as the "get out of the way" behavior sometimes supersedes the Folder behavior, causing the icon to wrap to the next line before you can drop on top of it.) Once created, iOS reads the apps' category data and tries to name the folder for you, but you can easily edit it and change it to anything you want.

As you add apps to a folder, tiny representations of the apps icon appear inside the folder icon in a 3x3 grid. Since iOS 4.2 on iPad supports more app than the iPhone version, 20 instead o 12, as you add more than 9 apps, the grid of tiny icons scrolls up to show the new apps being added. Since 20 isn't divisible by 3, when you hit 19 or 20 that row contains only 2 icons. Once you leave jiggly mode, the folder icon scrolls back down to show only the first 9 icons again. So, if you need visual reminded for certain apps being in certain folders, make sure you add them first so they'll be visible.

To remove apps from a Folder, put them in jiggly mode inside the Folder and drag them out (or just delete them if you don't want the app anymore at all). You can also move them around within the Folder to customize their order.

Folders can be put in jiggly mode and moved as well, but not deleted (they can only be deleted by removing all the apps from within them, and which point they self-destruct for you). You can even move them to the Dock, which means you could have 120 apps readily available at any time for quick launching.

You can also manage them from iTunes 10's app interface if a mouse and keyboard helps you speed up the process. (Oh, the irony.)

And while you still can't delete Apple's built-in apps, you can take the ones you're not using and hide them away inside a folder so they waste as little Home Screen space as possible.

Again, not as visually exciting perhaps as Mac OS X's Stacks, but it keeps current iPhone users in a familiar interface while adding much-needed functionality.

Calendar - Now in pastel

Calendar app appears to be functionally identical to iOS 3.2 but for the color scheme. The shades are all pastel now, just like iPhone on iOS 4.1. Full on Miami Vice light purples and greens and peaches and tones only Prismacolor has names for. No idea what this change was about.

Notes - Fonts they are a changin'

Notes finally -- finally lets you change fonts. That's right, if Marker Felt was never your thing, you can now jump into Settings and switch it to Chalkboard (essentially Marker Felt with a shave and a haircut), and Helvetica, used by the rest of the interface.

Maps - Button tweaked

A minor tweak, but the current location/current direction button changes from the previous crosshairs to a north-east pointer to match the new location services icon used in the title bar, much like the iPhone's did under iOS 4.0.

Video - Airplay enabled

Video, the app that unlike the iPhone but like the iPod touch houses all movie, TV, and video podcasts on iPad, enjoys AirPlay integration so all of the preceding should be able to easily stream to the 2010 Apple TV (and perhaps 3rd party AirPlay devices one day, if any offer video support).

YouTube - Thumbs and AirPlay

YouTube only gets a minor update this time, which is kind of disappointing given how great YouTube has been making YouTube.com work for iOS devices. In any event, if you've ever wished you could give a YouTube video the old thumbs up or thumbs down right on your iPad, the you're in luck.

And, of course, the AirPlay is right there, giving us hope any HTML5 video will be instantly transportable to the TV.

iTunes Store - TV Rentals, AirPlay, Ping (eventually)

iTunes store gets AirPlay too in case you want to stream a video podcast and shoot it over to your 2010 Apple TV. Speaking of streaming, thanks to iOS 4.2 background audio, streaming on iPad is now as rock solid as it's been on iPhone since 4.0.

Most of the time you can scrub and it re-buffers and keeps playing flawlessly. You can stop it and come back hours or even days later -- even after using the iTunes app to search for other things or the iPod app to play different audio -- and it still knows where you left off and starts playing again instantly without missing a beat. I almost never download podcasts anymore. That's how good the streaming is now (especially if you're mobile with an iPad 3G).

TV show rentals

The other addition is TV show rentals. They're only available in the US and from ABC (whose parent company, Disney, counts Steve Jobs as its biggest share holder), and FOX (whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, sees mobile devices as a way to save old media), and cost $0.99 per episode. You have 30 days to start watching and 48hrs. to finish once you start.

Ping

Ping doesn't show up in iOS 4.2 beta 2, but almost certainly will be coming to the iPad with this release. We'll update when it shows up. It will be interesting to see what Apples does to balance the rather awkward iTunes Windows/Mac UI with the fairly standard iOS on iPhone UI.

App Store - iAds

App Store, like iTunes Store is mostly just a thin app container around constantly updated web content, but Apple has snuck something new in this time, if not for users than at least for developers. And yeah, we're talking about iAds...

iAd

Okay, so iAd really shouldn't be considered a feature, at least not for users, but it will be a feature of iOS 4.2 for developers, and it will go in apps, so we're mentioning it here.

iAd will provide developers with an easy-as-Xcode way to place advertising in their apps, both paid and free. Apple is setting a high bar for their ads, however. No simple Google-style text, annoying punch-the-monkey, or jarring transition out of the app and into the browser, they claim to want great looking, highly interactive, emotionally compelling content that will connect with rather than alienate users. Served every 3 minutes...

Settings

Settings is a boring app that often contains a great number of terrific surprises when it comes to Apple iOS updates. iOS 4.2 for iPad is no exception.

Brightness & Wallpaper

iPad gets all the wallpapers that iPhone got with iOS 4, some of them re-rendered to look even sharper on the big 9.7-inch screen.

Here they are in action:

General: Location Services

Since Apple is, post Google-breakup, awfully serious about user privacy, Location Services get a new Settings tab that lets you turn them off completely, but also turn them off in each app separately if you like.

General: Passcode lock

iOS 4.2 brings alphanumeric passcodes to iPad by default (no more configuration file required). Turn it on and you can have a nice, strong, even gnarly pseudorandom string... if you can remember it.

And yes, you get the Vader-black keyboard standard if you flip that switch.

General: Restrictions

To the list of things you can lock down and lock out, iOS 4.2 adds Deleting Apps, no doubt to the cheers of parents with young children everywhere. You can also prevent changes to location services (so your kids can't stop you tracking them, unless they're hax0rs) and email accounts.

If you don't want them playing multiplayer Game Center games, you can stamp that out as well. You can even turn off friend requests.

General: Keyboard

iOS 4 spell check causing more problems for you than it's fixing? No problem, you can now turn it off. [9to5Mac]

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Gmail is dead, long live Google Mail.

Inside MobileMe, Google Mail, or other IMAP accounts, you can choose whether or not to enable sync. Again, there’s no support for Exchange ActiveSync accounts yet (including Gmail via GoogleSync).

Because mail now supports threaded email messages, Settings now gives you the option to turn that feature on or off.

Notes

Notes now has its own Settings tab because, as mentioned previously, you can now change the font in Notes, and here's where you do it.

You can also choose the default account for Notes sync if you have more than one IMAP mail account set up.

Game Center

Game Center, Apple's social gaming network went live with iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch and comes to the iPad with iOS 4.2. As of this writing, Apple has a Game Center section set up in the App Store to help you find games that support it. To start off, you can create or login to an account, update your status, and add friends.

And yes, on iPad Game Center takes advantage of the full screen. You get a double column-view instead of single like on iPhone, and that means your lists (like friends) will on the left and the detail view (like stats) will be on the right.

Also, the sign in/welcome screen currently shows a number of app icons "dealt" card-like across Game Center's game table style UI. Tapping them does indeed take you to the App Store to get the game.

You can also see a list of your games that support Game Center. Tapping on one gives you general info and the ability to hit Play and go straight to the game. Tapping on Leaderboards lets you see top scores for Today, This Week, and All Time.

Achievements shows everything you can earn for playing the game.

Safari

iOS 4.2 finally gives iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad the ability to find text on a Safari web page. This is similar to Windows or Mac, where you just hit CTL-F or CMD-F, type your text, and off you go. On iPad Safari you use the regular old search field (still confusingly labeled Google by default) and start typing the text you want to find.

Where previously you only got suggested search terms, now you get an additional section at the bottom to find the word on the page. Tap it and the first match on the page is highlighted in yellow and a set of buttons slide up on the bottom for "Next" and "Done", as well as a counter for how many matches of the word there are on the page, and which one is currently highlighted (e.g., 7/16). Hit next until you find the one you want, hit done when you're finished. If you want to change the find term, the search box is repositioned alongside the controls to make it convenient.

No more tedious manual scanning, no more javascript bookmarklet workaround. Just happy surfing.

The previous + icon, for adding bookmarks and Web Clips is gone, replaced by the Action button found in other apps. Hitting the action button gives you all the same options as before, but now also includes AirPrint.

And, of course, AirPlay will show up inline for videos where compatible.

Mail

iOS 4.2 for iPad Mail gets a unified inbox just like iPhone has had since iOS 4.0. For those with multiple email accounts whose previous iPad experience involved tapping into and out of those boxes many, many times a day this is a hugely welcome addition.

Unlike iPhone, the split column view of iPad lets you see your inbox choices on the left in landscape mode and in popover in portrait so it can be even faster to move around. The list includes all Inboxes, a specific account's inbox (which is considered fast inbox switching), or into the complete folder and sub-folder system of a given account (how Mail has worked in iOS 3.2).

Once inside, All Inboxes is visually indistinguishable from an account-specific inbox, it simply contains all of their messages.

What is distinguishable are the carets (technically greater-than symbols) to the right of certain messages that indicate a message is part of a thread. A number, typically 2 or 3, accompanies the caret to indicate how many replies are in the thread.

Tapping on a message that's part of a thread gives a second list of all messages in the thread. Tapping on one of them shows you the message in the main column.

A thread view contains a small vertical bar at the top with the subject of the thread and time of the most recent reply. A button to the top left of the message contains the name of the inbox you came from so you can back out again, leave the thread completely, and see all your messages.

So yes, the tap, tap, tap of inbox navigation persists, albeit shifted from moving into and out of inboxes to moving into and out of threaded messages.

Great news for heavy ActiveSync users, iOS 4 supports multiple accounts. So, for example, you can now have your work Exchange server and home Google account both set up to push through ActiveSync (which is what Google Sync users behind the scenes) at the same time.

Also for Gmail users, the Delete button has now been properly renamed as Archive (since Google really doesn't want you deleting anything if they can possibly help it), and the trashcan replaced with a storage box icon.

Lastly, in iOS 3.2, when you wanted to abandon an email, you would hit Cancel and get options to Save (store the email in Drafts), Don't Save (trash the email), and Cancel (go back to writing the email). The naming of these options was likely too confusing so in iOS 4.x they've been replaced with a big red Delete Draft button (to trash the email) and Save Draft.

Photos

Photos get a bump in the functionality department, primarily through the Action button getting AirPrint. Just tap, choose a compatible printer, and your photos go wirelessly from iPad digital to hardcopy ink or laser.

iPod

iPod on iOS 3.2 for iPad was fairly well rounded already, so the bump up to 4.2 seems fairly minor at this point. You get AirPlay, so you can send music to Air Port express speakers, or video to the 2010 Apple TV.

Availability

iOS 4.2 is currently in developer beta. There will likely be 4 or so betas before it goes Gold Master (GM) for final testing, and then is released to consumers in November.

It will be a free update.

Conclusion

iOS 4.2 on iPad is a revelation. It's the way iPad is meant to be. That's not to say it's perfect or has every feature on every geek's wish list -- it certainly doesn't -- but it has enough new functionality to make iPad much more valuable.

Like with iOS 4 on iPhone, multitasking and folders extend the existing UI in a way that gives power users what they need, but keeps casual users either grounded in familiar metaphor, and feature-phone types blissfully unaware it's even there.

AirPrint addresses an important bit of functionality for home and business alike, and AirPlay has the potential to turn the TV video scene upside down.

Sure, non-obtrusive notifications, and glanceable, lock-screen widgets -- and hey, AirEasyFileTransfer -- would be grand, but iOS 5 beta is only 6 months or so away...

As always this is a walkthrough and not a review, so we'll save the pros and cons for when it ships. For now we'll just thank Apple's iOS team again -- this is one hell of an update. If you notice anything we've missed, send us an email or drop a note in the comments and we'll add them to the next update.

iTunes 10 is here, we've been using it for a while, and now we've got a complete walkthrough for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. If you're new to iTunes 10, especially if you're new to iOS devices, we'll help you get up and running quickly. If you're already an expert, well here's a guide you can send your new user friends and family. Let's get started, after the break.

If you haven't downloaded iTunes 10, you can do so from Apple.com. Once it's installed, plug in your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to get started.

Summary/Info

The Summary section is helpful for checking on updates for your iOS device and restoring it if you run into problems. You can also configure some preferences such as syncing automatically when you plug-in your device. If you use a service like Apple's MobileMe, you won't have to do much on the Info section, but if you don't sync over the air, you can choose/manage what to sync over here such as Contacts, Calendar and Bookmarks.

New Color Bars

When you plug in your iOS device you will notice a colored bar at the very bottom labeled "Capacity". This bar is not a new feature to iTunes 10, but it is a tweaked one. It is divided into colors showing you what you have stored on your device by Audio, Video, Photos, Apps, Books, Other and Free space. If you click in the colored space it will cycle you through few options. Click it once and it will list you how many items you have in each respective category. Next it will break down the data into volume such as days and hours. Last, the display will show you the storage taken up by each category. Depending where you begin clicking this sequence may be in a different order, but it is still quite useful.

Managing Apps

iTunes 10 brings a couple of welcome changes to how iOS devices manage apps- especially if you have an iPhone/iPod Touch and an iPad. On the Apps section of iTunes on your device you have a filter that is probably default sorted by Kind. This places the iPhone and iPod Touch apps at the top and iPad apps at the bottom. You have more filters such as Name and Category, but the really useful choice is "iPad Only". This selection only displays iPad apps for your iPad. Regretfully, iTunes does not save this filtered selection and the next time you plug in your iOS device, it gets reset to Kind.

You also have a check box at the bottom of the screen that allows you to automatically install new apps. This option works great for me, but not my wife. With this checkbox checked, she gets every app I have downloaded installed on her device. An easy way around this is to go to the preview screen to the right in iTunes and select the last screen. This is typically where new apps will go (unless you have a lot of gapping spaces on your home screen). You can delete the app by hovering over it and clicking the X in the top left corner of the app. You can also remove any other app while you are at it. Be careful though, most apps don't store their info in the cloud yet, so if you delete it, the data might go with it too.

If you have an .ipa file (Apple's app format) you can drag and drop those files to the Apps section in iTunes located in the upper left.

File Sharing

Do you have an app such as Apple iWork Pages that you would like to get some documents installed? Piece of cake. Scroll to the bottom of the Apps section in iTunes for your app device and you will see the Apps and Document area. Click on the app you want and you will see an available list of documents currently synced to that app. If you want to add more documents, click the Add... button, browse to the document(s) and click Choose. If you want to save a document from the selected application, select it and click Save to... to place it on a folder on your computer. Here is an easy tip; of you want to save multiple files from an app or all of them, click the first document then hold the Shift key and click the last document. This selects all of them. Now you can save all of the documents to your computer. You can also Ctrl (PC) and the Apple Key (Mac) to select just the apps you want when clicking on them.

Music

Getting music on your iPhone/iPod Touch or iPad has never been easier. You can choose to sync your entire music library (it won't fit on my device... my library is too big). Or pick your favorite Artists, Genres, Playlists an Albums.

Do you have a lot of music videos? I do, but I don't want to sync all of my videos; that can take up precious space. To still get music videos on your  iOS device but not all of them, create a playlist in iTunes and drag the music videos you want onto it. Make sure the Include Music Videos checkbox is checked and you are ready to Rock and Roll, so to speak.

Movies/TV Shows/Podcasts/iTunes U

These sections all work relatively the same way. Select played or unplayed content to sync or a playlist. You can even choose more robust choices like the most recent episode that has been downloaded but not played. Yikes, but it is useful so you don't get redundant content on your device.

Books

Photos

If you use iPhoto or Aperture you can sync those events and projects to your iOS device. On the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch with Retina Displays pictures looks very good. They are also fun to view on the iPad with its huge display. If you really like someone, you can even use the Faces feature and sync over just specific people; that is just too cool. If you own a PC you can sync directly from a folder.

Ping

Ah, the only really "new" feature in iTunes 10 for iOS devices (except for iPad running 3.2, gotta wait till 4.2 folks) is Ping, Apple's new social network for music. You can access Ping directly from iTunes via the Ping button from the desktop and iPhone/iPod Touch.

I really enjoy Ping. You can follow other artists, like and post songs and albums. Strangely you can only do this with music, not Audiobooks or Podcasts. I am betting in the future you will be able to.

Conclusion

Back in late June/early July, I reviewed an app called Wi-Fi Sync for jailbroken iPhones. You can find my revised version of the review here. Originally this seemed like a pretty neat app. It's a bit pricey for what it does, but it did it well.

Now I've been having several issues with iTunes over the past 2 months. I couldn't restore or upgrade firmware (it would hang up at the very end and leave all my devices in never ending recovery loops). To my dismay, it also broke backups within iTunes. I found this out after I wiped one of my devices and then noticed my last backup had been 2 months earlier. In frustration, a buddy on Twitter (@snoslicer8) asked if I by chance had Wi-Fi Sync installed. And without a doubt, that was the problem.

Needless to say, click along to see how to fix these issues if you're having problems with iTunes and you've previously downloaded W-Fi Sync. Odds are, it's the culprit.

You'll need to complete these steps exactly in order. If you have already uninstalled Wi-Fi Sync and that didn't seem to solve the problem, re-install it and do these steps completely in order. Odds are you didn't complete the first step before uninstalling and that can cause your backups to still epically fail. So after you re-install, reboot your Mac before continuing.

*Side note: I am on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.4). I do not know if this effects previous versions of Mac or PC. If you know or have any input, please feel free to leave it in the comments for future users who may have the issue.

Re-enable backups via Wi-Fi Sync

This is why I said to re-install if you had already uninstalled. You'll see the icon for Wi-Fi Sync in your top taskbar, it looks like a tiny iPhone like below.

Click that icon to get a drop down menu, you'll see one like the one below. If disable device backups is checked, UNCHECK it. For me, device backups were disabled by default. If you don't do this before uninstalling, you will still have issues with backups even after uninstalling.

Only after you've done this, will you be good to uninstall.

Uninstall Wi-Fi Sync

A lot of users were wondering how to uninstall Wi-Fi Sync. I'm not quite sure why the developer did not include the uninstaller in the bundle, but you'll have to go here to download the uninstaller for Mac. Download that and run the terminal app. It may prompt you to enter your admin password.

Reboot your Mac

After you reboot, your problems should be solved. To make sure, simply open iTunes, connect one of your iDevices and sync it. It should saying backing up, which it didn't say before. Or another way to know is after you sync, go to iTunes ---> Preferences --> Devices and look to see if you have a new backup. If you do, you should be good to go. If you are still having issues, leave a comment below and we'll try and help you out.

Thanks to @snoslicer8 for helping me out with this one! And as my revised review states, I can't recommend this app until the developer does something about this. This is app is not worth paying for when it breaks core functionality in iTunes. So until it's resolved, I can't recommend anyone pay money for this application. I tried contacting the developer over 2 weeks ago to no response. I attempted to contact him on Twitter as well, to no avail. I can't seem to find a workaround other that completely uninstalling the app, and the issue seems pretty prevalent in several forums and boards. If anyone else found another solution, let us know!

A lot of people have been waiting for Flash on an iPhone (unofficially of course), and if you're jailbroken, you can have it now, via Frash.  Frash is basically a port of Flash 10.1 for mobile.  We also have to keep in mind, it's in a severe Alpha stage.  And it shows.  But if you just can't wait to get your hands on a way to run Flash on an iPhone, click on through for some more thoughts as well as a walkthrough complete with video of how to install.

First for my thoughts on Frash. Honestly, a year ago I would have been more excited to have Flash on an iPhone. Maybe it's just me, but ever since El Jobso essentially put the ban hammer down when it comes to Flash on iPhone, a lot of companies and web designers have been more wary when coding websites. It seems like more and more sites everyday are embedding code in order to make their sites more iPhone friendly. A huge example is Vimeo. I hated it when I'd be browing news sites or blogs and videos would be embedded with services like Vimeo. You just couldn't watch them. Now, they load nicely in a Quicktime mobile player and you're good to go. Facebook also supports iPhone mobile video viewing from within their native app. This solved most of my Flash woes overnight.

I can also see why some people still want Flash. Some websites still use splashscreens written in Flash. It's especially irritating to not be able to get to a website's main page just because the intro is written in Flash. Most of the time, you can type index.html or something of the like into the address bar after the web address to bypass Flash, but not always. (Not to mention it's a pretty annoying workaround.) If you're someone who tends to deal with a lot of Flash content, Frash is probably your best solution as of now.

I wouldn't recommend installing Frash on any iPhone model below a 3GS. Safari will most likely do nothing but crash on you. And again, keep in mind Frash is still in it's very infant stages. But if you're still interested in giving Frash a go, follow these instructions to install or watch the video below which also provides a walkthrough and demonstration of some of the bugs I've experienced with Frash so far.

• Jailbreak Your iDevice via JailbreakMe.com, you can find directions here.

• Next, you'll need to add a repo to Cydia. Tap Sources along the bottom, then go to manage, tap edit at the top, then add the following repo: http://repo.benm.at/

• Once you're done adding the repo, search "Frash" in Cydia and install. That's it, you're done. You should now be able to access flash data via Safari on your iDevice.

YouTube Link

Jailbreakers can rejoice again as not only has the iOS4 jailbreak been updated, iPhone 4 users can now jailbreak as well! iPad users are also included, whether you're running 3.2 or 3.2.1, the jailbreak should work for you either way. If you haven't done so already, here's a list of things to do before and after jailbreaking!

And before you proceed, here's the normal disclaimer;

Jailbreaking can and will void the warranty on your device. Should something go wrong, the responsibility is your own, so proceed with caution. If you feel uncomfortable jailbreaking your device, it's probably best if you don't. But if you're okay with all that, read on!

Backup your iPhone/iPad

Jailbreak Your iDevice

This jailbreak is probably one of the most dead simple ones you'll ever use. Simply go to www.jailbreakme.com with Safari on your actual device. You will see the webpage like above. You'll slide to jailbreak, and wait. If all went well, when it's done, you'll be jailbroken. The easiest way to tell is if you now see a Cydia icon on your springboard.

Save your SHSH Blob

You'll want to click that. You may see a message at the top of Cydia for a few days saying you have a request in. This can happen when the servers are overloaded with requests. Saurik has also taken down the server in the past when it gets hammered. If this is the case, just keep trying until the top of your phone says you have an SHSH on file for whatever OS you're running. It'll look something like this -

You're done!  If you guys had any issues, be sure to check out our jailbreak forums for common problems and questions.  If you still can't find an answer, drop us a line!

Update:

I almost forgot something pretty important, whenever you jailbreak (especially if you plan on SSH'ing), always change your root and mobile passwords! As of now, users are reporting problems with Terminal under iOS4 while jailbroken, but you can change your root passwords still, there's a thread here explaining how to do this. Let us know if you have any issues in the forums! There's lots of great members willing to help you with the process.

The dev team recently released a new PwnageTool that will allow you to jailbreak iOS4 on your iPhone or iPod touch. Since we covered that, the dev team has upgraded the PwnageTool to 4.0.1.  This is our walkthrough of  how to jailbreak devices running iOS4. As always here's our disclaimer;

If you are in any way, shape, or form hesitant to jailbreak your device, don't!  We take no responsibility for whatever damage you may do to your device during or after the process.  Jailbreaking should typically be reserved for semi-advanced to advanced users.  Preliminary jailbreaks can sometimes cause more problems.  This jailbreak is NOT as simple as a button click like blackra1n or Spirit.  If that's what you'd prefer, wait for that... pass on this one."

If you're alright with all of that, hit the jump to see if your device can currently be jailbroken/unlocked and how to do it.

Sorry I don't have a video for you guys this time, I had my 3GS swapped due to it bricking hardcore, and I have the newer baseband, but for now, here's a nice walkthrough. I'll update with a video when the dev team has a solution for newer basebands on 4.0.

iPhone Family (Mac Only)

• Not currently supported, so please don't attempt as you may damage your phone. As with all new hardware, you'll have to wait a bit for an update that supports iPhone 4.

• New bootrom: No
• Old bootrom and haven't ever jailbroken with Spirit but HAVE been jailbroken before: yes, you can jailbreak
• An easy way to tell if you have an older or newer bootrom is to check your serial, if the 4th and 5th digits are 40 or less, you've got an older bootrom. (ie - if my serial was 8B4387323 I'd be okay as my phone's 4th and 5th digits are 38)

• Easiest way, just use redsn0w regardless of your situation, it should work, or follow the directions below

iPod Family (Mac and Windows)

• The second generation iPod touch is currently the ONLY iPod touch that is compatible with PwnageTool 4.0.1 at this time.  If you have a first or third generation, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Either follow the directions below for second generation iPods or use redsn0w if you have a non-MC model of the 2nd gen iPod touch, basically older bootrom)

Instructions

Alright, now that we've determined whether or not you're capable of jailbreaking, I'm assuming you'd only be reading this if you're "certain" you can.  Here's what you need to do:

1. Back up your iPhone/iPod in iTunes
2. Download PwnageTool here from the official source or one of the many mirrors
3. Make sure your device is connected and open PwnageTool
4. PwnageTool will ask you to select your device (I always select expert mode by the way, it will give you more choices when building your custom firmware - for iPhone 3G users who would like to activate the multi-tasking functionality, etc, you'll need to select expert mode and further down in the process, you'll be able to select an option that will enable features like multitasking, it may lag though, so consider yourself warned.)
5. Then select Next and PwnageTool will browse for firmwares on your computer. If for some reason your computer does not find them, you can get firmwares from here. (Remember to make SURE you are downloading the correct firmware for your device.  iPhone 1st gen = 1,1 - iPhone 3G = 1,2 - iPhone 3GS = 2,1 - iPhone 4 = 3,1
6. After PwnageTool finds your correct firmware or you have browsed to the firmware you have downloaded, click next.
7. (Simple Mode, skip to step 11) If you selected expert most, you will now get a screen asking you to customize your build, select general at the very least, and typically Cydia packages, if you'd like the pineapple logo instead of the Apple logo, select Custom Logos then click next.
8. Next you will get a screen asking you to partition your space for jailbreak stuff (you don't have to). It'll also ask you if you'd like to activate, uncheck this if you're on AT&T and not unlocking.
9. The next screen will allow you to select custom packages you'd like pre-installed. Select what you want and click next again.
10. Select your custom boot logos or browse for your own and click Next.
11. Select Build on this screen, it'll prompt you for a location to save your custom IPSW, I normally save this to my desktop. (Oh, don't stray too far away from your computer, you'll probably be asked for an admin password at some point during the build process).
12. Once your bundle is done you'll need to open iTunes and put your phone into DFU mode. Simply turn your phone completely off, open iTunes, and hold down your home button until iTunes recognizes there is an iPhone/iPod in recovery mode.
13. Next hold down alt+option on your keyboard and click restore, navigate to your custom firmware you just built and restore from that. If all went well, your iPhone/iPod should reboot jailbroken!

Unlocking iPhone 3G and 3GS

As ultrasn0w now supports ALL versions of iPhone basebands, if your jailbreak was successful, you just need to install ultrasn0w via Cydia and you'll be unlocked!

If you have any questions or concerns with this process, feel free to leave them in the comments, forums, contact me on Twitter @iMuggle, or shoot me a quick e-mail at ally.kazmucha@tipb.com! Happy jailbreaking!

iOS 4 (previously iPhone OS 4 or iPhone 4.0) continues Apple's relentless yearly mobile OS update cycle. If 2007 was the mainstreaming of the multitouch user interface, 2008 all about the App Store, and 2009 was filling in the feature list, then iOS 4 promises to be... well, that's why we're here.

(And yes, iOS. That's the new name Apple has licensed from trademark-holders Cisco to represent the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch -- and maybe soon the Apple TV and who knows what else -- family.)

Back on April 8 at the sneak preview event, Apple promised 7 "tent-pole" features and 100+ general user features overall, along with 1500 major new API for developers. We're going to walk you through the ones that matter most.

Note: iOS 4.1 is now available. See our complete iOS 4.1 walkthrough for the latest on Game Center, HDR photography, Ping social music network, and the other new features.

See also our iPhone 4 review for more on hardware specific features.

iOS 4 in 10 minutes: video quick-start guide

If you don't have time (yet) to read this massive iOS 4 walkthrough and are eager to get the basics down now, here's a quick 10 minute video guide to get your started.

We're showing it off on an iPhone 3GS, which should be similar to how it will work on an iPod touch G3. If you're using the iPhone 3G or iPod touch 2G you won't get the multitasking and wallpapers. You'll blame Apple. Apple will blame the hardware. The hardware will try to frustrate you into upgrading to an iPhone 4. You've been warned.

Note: If you haven't updated yet, save yourself some time and potential hassles and go read our getting ready for iOS 4 post first first. Then once you're good to go, sit back, relax, and hit play on the video below.

YouTube link

What Hasn't Changed

As always, we'll start off by telling you what hasn't change so we can clear the deck for what has. For more information on any functionality that's pretty much identical to past versions, check out our previous walkthroughs:

• iPhone 3.1
• iPhone 3.0
• iPhone 2.2
• iPhone 2.1
• iPhone 2.0

And here's a quick list of the unchanged apps in iOS 4:

• Stocks: Similarly, Stocks got landscape and a slew of swipe-able data last time, so the update love gets skipped this time.
• Weather: Almost comedically at this point, it's still unchanged from iPhone 1.0. Still no HTC TouchFlo 3D style animations, no landscape mode with more/different information. Not even a Calendar-style icon update to show current local weather. Nada.
• Voice Memo: Introduced in iPhone 3.0, it looks pretty much the same in iOS 4.
• Clock: With nothing but a lap feature added last time, we lose the "but" and keep the "nothing" for iOS 4.
• Calculator: Upgraded back in 2.0 for landscape scientific mode, all Calculator gets this time is a slight icon tweak towards the red.

(We're not counting getting a resolution bump for iPhone 4 Retina Display as a functional change.)

System-wide enhancements

Spell check

Spell check, which debuted in iOS 3.2 for iPad, is a system-wide addition to iOS 4 now as well. Words the OS thinks you've misspelled will be underlined in red (familiar to any Microsoft Office or Mac OS X user). Tapping on them will give you a popup containing a recommended replacement. Tapping the popup replaces the misspelled word with the (hopefully!) correctly spelled one.

Combined with the iPhone's existing -- and industry leading -- predictive auto-correct, it's a powerful combination.

Text Replace

Cut, copy, and paste also gets an iPad-debuting feature with "replace" now added to the popup options.

Additionally, if iOS 4 autocorrects a word and you immediately backspace, a popup will appear offering to replace the correction with the originally typed word.

VoiceControl

We haven't found any specific documentation on this yet, and it doesn't seem to be listed as one of the options flying by on the on-screen suggestions, but per the comments below asking "what time is it" will now have VoiceControl speak the current time to you. It's possible other commands have been added as well. If you come across any, let us know.

Wi-Fi

iPod touch (and I believe iPhone) can now stay connected to Wi-Fi even when in sleep mode. This means background VoIP calls, push notifications, and other apps that require an active Wi-Fi connection can just keep working.

Virtual Keyboard

Instead of just hitting the globe key to cycle through languages on the virtual keyboard, you can now hold it down to get a popup showing all currently enabled international keyboards.

Bluetooth Keyboard Support

You're going to get tired of us saying "like the iPad" but remember when we told you spring's influx of iPad news would be important come summer's new iPhone news? You were warned for a reason. iPhone is getting iPad's Bluetooth keyboard support. Thank goodness for that.

Over-the-air Carrier Setting Updates

Based on reports from Rogers/Fido users in Canada, iOS 4 adds the ability for Carrier Setting Updates to be pushed out over-the-air (OTA) to iPhones and installed on-device. (In previous versions iTunes would handle the update and sync it over).

Home Screen

SpringBoard, the app behind the Home Screen gets an iOS 3.2 for iPad-style update to support custom wallpaper. Yes, the default background in iOS 4 is water drops on gray, which is not default but included in the iPad's wallpaper gallery. Also like iPad, the Mac OS X reflective Dock (buh-bye grid) and translucent top bar have been brought over.

(If you get a new iPhone 4, or do a clean install of iOS 4, you'll also note Clock, Compass, Calculator, and Voice Memos have been moved to a Utilities folder by default -- more on Folders later).

In addition to the iPad wallpapers, Apple has also introduced a few new ones, all seemingly focused on livening up the home screen without being too visually distracting. Natural textures and muted patterns get an obvious focus here with stones, rocks, and textiles front and center.

(See all of them in our iOS 4 wallpaper gallery)

In addition to previous status icons, the top bar will now show a north-east pointing arrow to alert you that location-based services (GPS) are being used. (So you'll see this in Maps and when using navigation, location-based social networks or games, etc.) An orientation lock icon will also show if you've enabled the widget to lock your screen in portrait mode (see below).

The color bands indicators across the top of the screen that highlight running voice or data connections (green for Phone, red for Voice Memo, blue for tethering) get expanded. Red now serves double-duty to indicate a VoIP app (like Skype) is active in the background.

How the SpringBoard has been once again extended to visualize new, core-level OS changes is where things get more interesting...

Spotlight

First, and strangely least, the Spotlight Home Screen introduced in iPhone 3.0 now gets to look beyond on-device data and reach for the clouds. Literally. Well, insomuch as the cloud here is Google and Wikipedia, which are very welcome additions. (Hopefully Twitter will be added in as well at some point). Tapping either will launch you into Mobile Safari and the appropriate search result page.

Multitasking

While Apple's built-in apps (like iPod, Mail, etc.) have had background multitasking since 1.0. four years, many gripes, and stiffer Google Android competition than later, background multitasking comes to App Store apps. (At least for iPhone 4 and last year's iPhone 3GS).

Why no iPhone 3G? Apple abjectly refuses to put their name on an implementation where hardware constrains software -- see video recording last year -- and that means iPhone 3G isn't up to their multitasking standards.

As to how it works, instead of a traditional "leave full apps running in the background" approach, Apple instead chose to implement a more restricted but, they felt, better performing and power friendly solution involving 7 specific background API (application programming interfaces.)

Local notifications

In addition to the existing push notification service from Apple's servers, which provide sound, badges, and alert popups for everything from IM to game challenges, iOS 4 adds local notifications so something like an alarm-clock app could register an alert that would sit in the iPhone in the background until the proper time, then activate. That takes the online server out of the equation which is good for tasks that don't need additional information from the cloud, and so don't have to activate the radios.

Task completion

There's another API for task completion so that, for example, if you're uploading a picture to Twitter and leave the app, it can register a thread to keep uploading the picture in the background while you do something else. That means the entire app doesn't have to keep running, freeing up memory and lightening battery load, and even the thread will terminate when the upload is done.

Fast task switching and saved state

Fast task switching deals with the perceptive speed that multitasking offers. With previous versions of iOS, if you left an App Store app it would shut down completely. If you went back -- regardless if it was a second or a week or later -- it would usually restart not from where you left off but from the beginning. A few developers tried to add persistence on their own, saving your place when you came back as best as previous OS versions allowed, but most didn't -- especially games which was aggravating when phone calls pulled you unexpectedly out of them. Also, if you closed one app and went to another, you could theoretically be stuck swiping back or forth between 11 home screen pages.

Saved state is now built into iOS 4. If you switch out, Apps have their currents state saved to memory and if/when you go back, the app checks the memory save and resumes from that state. [Thanks Aaron]

To enable fast app switching, Apple's created a new UI mechanic. Now, when you double tap the home button, the screen turns translucent and slides up, allowing you to peek at the apps running "under the hood". (Technically frozen with state saved and threads registered with the background API).

Apps in the fast switcher UI are sorted in order of last usage. That means, if you're moving between a set of commonly used apps, they're most likely right next to each other and not screens and screens away. These two elements combine together to make launching apps perceptively much faster, even though the apps don't have to be running in the background consuming resources just for that convenience.

Positionally the fast task switcher apps take up the space traditionally reserved for the Dock, so while it's a tad confusing the concept of apps at the bottom of the screen being more permanent and easily accessible remains. Behaviorally, while they look like a secret dock, they function like the Home Screen itself in that you can swipe from right to left to scroll through a several 4-icon sets of multitasking apps.

Given even the iPhone 3GS has only 256MB of RAM, we assume Apple will discretely kill off the least-used app in the stack when things get tight. Whether or not that means the icon disappears from the multitasking UI we don't know, but worst case you just have to go to the home screen, re-launch it (hopefully from saved state) and all you notice is a slightly longer start up time. iPhone 4 is supposed to have 512MB of RAM which should allow for significantly more threads to run in background without slowdown or other problems.

iOS 4 helps users visualize what's going on when switching tasks by introducing a new, carousel-like animation. The new animation occurs when you switch between two apps either via the new, double-click-Home to trigger to launch the multitasking UI, or when one app calls another app (i.e. when you're in Contacts and you tap to send a contact an SMS).

Launching or leaving an app retains the same, zoom-based effect as always (though the wallpaper in iOS zooms slightly as well, like on the iPad).

YouTube link

Interlude: Task Killing

At the iOS 4 event, Steve Jobs likened task managers (in the multitasking, not to-do sense) to styluses -- if you need them there's something wrong. Initially this created confusion in iOS 4 when it was noted, if you hold your finger down on multitasking apps, they'd jiggle and bring up a delete icon that, if tapped, removed them.

It appears like there's a couple things going on. First, with built-in Apple apps, like Mail, if you "delete" it from the fast task switcher, you will still receive Mail (it doesn't kill the background thread that checks, sounds/vibrates, and updates the badge) but the app seems to do some sort of data cache refresh at times.

For App Store apps, if you "delete" them it does appear to force a reset when next you launch them, i.e. they won't resume from the previously saved state and their threads seem to be restarted. [Thanks Justin!]

Widgets

Just like to the left of the main home screen is a special Spotlight screen, to the left of the fast app switcher is a special widget dock containing an software version of the iPad's hardware orientation lock control (though it currently only locks in portrait mode). More over, there are three circular controls to skip back, play/pause, or skip forward any music (including streaming music) -- and rewind or fast forward if you hold them down. Lastly, whichever app is currently playing the music, be it iPod, iTunes (streaming podcasts, for example), or an App Store app (like Pandora or Slacker) is shown at the right so you can jump back to it and access further controls.

YouTube link

The presentation may not be as visually slick as Palm webOS' Card view (which looks like iPhone Safari's Page view) or Mac OS X Expose mode, but it keeps tens of millions of existing iPhone and iPod touch users grounded in the interface they're familiar with and that's what Apple is prioritizing.

Note: Previously you could assign the double-click home button action to trigger Phone Favorites, Camera, or Spotlight. On iPhone 3G under iOS those options remain. On iPhone 3GS under iOS, in early betas you could double-click-and-hold the home button to trigger Phone Favorites, but this function doesn't appear to have survive to the final release. Hopefully something will replace it and soon.

Background music, location, and VoIP

Speaking of streaming music, perhaps most famously, Apple is allowing apps to register three specific types of the threads for persistent backgrounding (they can just keep running until you close them). Again, this isn't the whole app running, just one thread from the app, so the idea is it won't slow down performance, use up memory, or drain battery to the same degree. These API are for streaming music, location, and VoIP (voice over IP).

This means you can listen to Pandora, Slacker, etc. while surfing the web. Navigon, TeleNav,TomTom, etc. can keep using the GPS and alert you to directions while you're on the phone, and to further save resources, non-critical location apps like FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt, etc. can be alerted when you change cell towers. Fring, Skype, Line2, etc. can answer calls and receive messages when you're not in the app, making them more equal telephony citizens.

What's still missing are background API for timeline updates, so that IM, Twitter, RSS, etc. could update like Mail does and have new messages ready and waiting when you return to the app. Also, there's no API to let internet sessions like SSH, RDP/VNC remain active when you exit an app making it more onerous for network administrators and others to manage remote machines. Hopefully these can be added in future revisions.

Folders

There are over 200,000 apps in the App Store and likely a ton more by the time I finish writing the sentence. Literally. iPhone 1.0 had one Home Screen but with only the built-in apps available back then, it wasn't even a limitation. With WebApps, it grew to 9 pages for a 148 app limit. With iPhone 3.0 we were given 11 pages, for 180 apps viewable, but you could eventually install many more and use Spotlight as a way of finding and launching them. Organizing them still wasn't a real option.

Enter Folders. A Folder is simply a grouped icon that holds up to 12 other icons inside it. (And for those keeping count at home, the new math means a whopping 2160 apps can be kept available at once. Shudder).

The way it works is you tap a Folder icon and once again the Home Screen fades and splits open, this time below the Folder. Inside the split are all the apps contained in the group.

To create a Folder, you begin by tapping and holding an icon to put it in jiggly mode, just like you did before to delete or move it. Then, drag it over and drop it on top of another icon to create a Folder. (This works better when icons aren't at the right edge of the screen, as the move behavior seems to supersede the Folder behavior, causing the icon to wrap to the next line before you can drop on top of it.) Once created, iOS reads the apps' category data and tries to name the folder for you, but you can easily edit it and change it to anything you want.

To remove apps from a Folder, put them in jiggly mode inside the Folder and drag them out (or just delete them if you don't want the app anymore at all). You can also move them around within the Folder to customize their order.

Folders can be put in jiggly mode and moved as well, but not deleted (they can only be deleted by removing all the apps from within them, and which point they self-destruct for you). You can even move them to the Dock, which means you could have 48 apps readily available at any time for quick launching.

And while you still can't delete Apple's built-in apps, you can take the ones you're not using and hide them away inside a folder so they waste as little Home Screen space as possible (as Apple now does by default with the Utilities folder mentioned previously).

Again, not as visually exciting perhaps as Mac OS X's Stacks, but it keeps current iPhone users in a familiar interface while adding much-needed functionality.

YouTube link

The ability to manage Folders has also been added to iTunes 9.2, mirroring the creation, editing, and removal features found on-device.

Messages

Messages in iOS 4 gets the same built-in Spotlight search that Mail and other apps got with iPhone 3.0. It appears at the top of the main messages screen. (There's no search within an individual Messages thread). [@justin_horn]

Messages (finally) gets a character counter so you'll know when you're getting close to, or going past, the SMS limit (which would cause a second message to be sent). It kicks in after you've typed 50 characters or so. [@iMuggle]

iOS 4 will now put an exclamation badge on the Messages app as a way to inform you when an SMS text or MMS multimedia message fails to send.

There's also a new API to allow in-app SMS for developers who want to include the functionality in their own apps. While this might be similar to the iPhone 3.0 embedded email option, and whether or not it will let users reply to SMS without leaving an app, it doesn't seem as elegant a solution as a global background messaging system.

Calendar

Calendar removes two long-standing gripes and adds something pretty much invisible from the interface but awesome in terms of functionality.

First, you can now show all or hide all calendars or individually check/uncheck just the calendars you want to see.

Birthday calendars have also been added to the option, something that was previously only possible to see under certain setup conditions.

Lastly (and most excitingly), Apple has finally added Calendar access for developers. What this means is you may soon see apps where you can buy tickets for a local movie and have the show time automatically added to your Calendar.

Photos

Photos, at least for Mac users, gets the same iPhoto '09-based organizational features introduced with the iPad: Events, Faces, and Places.

If you have a Mac with iPhoto '09 and you've let it automatically file your photos by time stamp (Events), through facial-recognition algorithms (Faces), and via geo-location (Places). All these join the previous Albums view to form the bottom tab bar.

Landscape mode is also now supported in album and gallery views [@antonioj].

Previous betas included a Rotate function under the action button that would turn a photo 90 degrees, but this doesn't seem to have made it into the final. Hopefully it will return.

If you Email Photo, you now get the option of sending a small, medium, or large version (shrunken pixel dimensions and hence file size), or at actual size.

Lastly, developers have been given access to the photo and video library (not just the image picker as in previous OS versions).

Camera

Tap to focus, introduced in iPhone 3.0 for still photography, now gets expanded to video recording for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

Still photography maintains its leg up, however, via a new 5x digital zoom. When you tap the screen, a slider pops up allowing you to swipe to the right to increase magnification and swipe left to decrease.

With iPhone 4, there's an additional control to swap between the beefed up 5mp back-facing camera, and the all new front-facing VGA camera (if you want to take a self-portrait/profile picture). There's also an icon to show the new rear-mounted LED flash. This feature sounds like it's automatic for still but can be turned on and left on for night-time video shooting, but we'll have to wait and see when iPhone 4 ships.

Developers also get full access to and control of video playback and recording.

YouTube

You can now watch YouTube videos in portrait mode if you really want to. They'll still default in landscape, so you may have to rock the accelerometer back and forth to get them to switch.

Maps

A minor tweak, but the current location/current direction button changes from the previous crosshairs to a north-east pointer to match the new location services icon used in the title bar. (No iOS 3.2 for iPad-style terrain mode, at least not yet).

For developers, overlays can now be added to embedded maps to show extra data like routes or annotations.

Notes

When you first enter notes it looks unchanged from previous versions of the iPhone OS. However, there is now an Accounts button at the top left of the list page and tapping it takes you to a new screen where you can choose to view All Notes, just the notes on your iPhone, or just the notes that are synced via IMAP to your email account(s). Yes, that means over the air (OTA) notes sync is finally here -- with the caveat that Exchange doesn't seem supported yet.

(UI-wise this is similar to how you back out/left in Calendar or Contacts to toggle data sources.)

The way these show up in Mac OS X is via the built-in Mail.app client in the Notes tab.

On Gmail they show up as a generic label. In other IMAP clients, regardless of OS, they'll show up as generic IMAP folders.

iTunes Store

The iTunes store itself is the same, however, audio streaming from the app has taken a huge leap forward. Since iPhone OS 2.2 you've been able to tap the title of a podcast to begin streaming (rather than downloading) the audio, even in the background while using other apps, but it was sometimes hit or miss. It would drop out, it would time out, you couldn't really scrub through it, and if you left it for a while it would lose its place and start over.

In iOS 4 it's rock solid. You can scrub and it re-buffers and keeps playing flawlessly. You can stop it and come back hours or even days later -- even after using the iTunes app to search for other things or the iPod app to play different audio -- and it still knows where you left off and starts playing again instantly without missing a beat.

As mentioned previously in the multitasking section, when iTunes is using the background music streaming API (I'm assuming thats' what it's using) it gets the widget position in the fast task switcher interface, complete with widget controls.

Settings

This year, like every year, some of the more numerous and interesting changes Apple delivers in their new OS are tucked neatly away in the Settings app.

General: Network

You can now choose to not only turn off 3G data or roaming data, but all cellular data.

General: Location Services

At the iOS event, Apple made a big deal about user privacy when it came to location (like a shot at Google). That manifests here with far more granular controls over which apps are allowed to access your location data (GPS, Wi-Fi mapping, and cell tower triangulation) and the aforementioned north-east pointing arrow that shows up when any app has used your location in the last 24 hours.

General: Spotlight Search

Since double clicking the home button is now a hard-wired to launch the fast-task switcher for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, the Home Button setting is gone and replaced by direct access to Spotlight Search preferences.

Since iPhone 3G won't be getting multitasking those options remain under iOS 4 for that device.

General: Passcode Lock

Previously available only through an Enterprise profile, iOS 4 brings stronger, alphanumeric passcodes to all iPhone users. That means you're no longer stuck with only a 4 digit pin, but can now create longer passcodes with far greater variation. Of course, longer, more varied passcodes are more of a hassle to remember and enter, but that's the cost of good security.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

As previously mentioned, Notes will now sync over IMAP and the settings for that appear here. First, all the way at the bottom, you can choose which account to use as the default for note sync.

Inside MobileMe, Gmail, or other IMAP accounts, you can choose whether or not to enable sync. Again, there's no support for Exchange ActiveSync accounts yet (including Gmail via GoogleSync).

Safari

When you tap into the Safari's URL bar in iOS 4 and start typing, Safari starts to do a "keyword search", i.e. display predictive results based on your bookmarks and history. Anything that contains the text you're inputing either in the URL or history is listed below the URL field so the moment you see what you want you can just tap it and go.

This makes it easier to find something if you don't remember the exact web page address or if you know you recently saw a site, and know what it was about, but don't remember where exactly it was. Just start typing a few words you do remember and let Safari do the heavy lifting. Highly convenient and certainly "awesome". [To misappropriate the term from Mozilla]

Also, welcome to iOS search options, Microsoft Bing.

Messages

Here's where you can turn on that new character count option.

iPod

The iPod app now has an overlay that shows you information about songs and podcasts. While functional it's not terribly attractive so it's nice to be able to toggle it off right here.

App Store

iPhone 2.0 brought us the iTunes App Store, iPhone 3.0 added in-app purchases, and now iOS raises the mercantile stakes once again with...

iAd

iAd will provide developers with an easy-as-Xcode way to place advertising in their apps, both paid and free. Apple is setting a high bar for their ads, however. No simple Google-style text, annoying punch-the-monkey, or jarring transition out of the app and into the browser, they claim to want great looking, highly interactive, emotionally compelling content that will connect with rather than alienate users. Served every 3 minutes. Yeah...

Functionally these are built in HTML5 (no Flash need apply) and seem to work as apps-within-apps. Tapping on a banner brings up a full-screen ad-as-webapp and examples shown included plenty of animated UI effects and content that ranged from videos to freebies like wallpaper, to free and paid apps you could download from within the ad (no trip to the App Store needed). An exit button is persistent at the top left so users can quit the add at any time.

Apple will be selling and serving the ads, so all we can do is hope they're unobtrusive and actually reach the quality levels presented. For paid apps that also try to include in-app iAds, that bar will rightly be very, very high.

Quick Look

Just like Mail can preview documents, Quick Look will allow developers to present the same functionality in their apps.

Accelerate

2000 hardware accelerated math APIs probably won't be seen by users, but there's not doubt we'll feel them in the games. Zoom. Zoom.

File Sharing

Again it looks like the iPhone is finally getting in iOS what the iPad got in 3.2 with the file/document transfer feature now exposed in iTunes sync.

Now all we need is an elegant way to share and wirelessly sync those documents across multiple devices and users. MobileMe 2.0, souped up iWork.com 2.0, where are you?

Phone

The biggest addition to the iOS 4 Phone app is iPhone 4 exclusive -- FaceTime. When connected to Wi-Fi and making a call to another iPhone 4 user, the Hold button gets replaced with a FaceTime video icon. (Where the hold option goes under these circumstances is as yet unknown.)

Tapping that initiates a FaceTime video call. During the FaceTime video call, the person you're calling fill the screen, your own camera input is boxed in the lower left corner (you can touch and drag it to move it around), and mute, hang up, and switch camera buttons line the bottom of the screen. (Switch camera toggles between the rear-facing and front-facing cameras on the iPhone 4).

Mail

Mail gets a unified inbox. Let's write that again -- Mail gets a unified inbox. For those with multiple email accounts whose previous iPhone experience involved tapping into and out of those boxes many, many times a day this is a hugely welcome addition.

As with Calendars, Notes, etc. you can tap a button on the top left, in this case Mailboxes, to back into a selection screen where you can then go into All Inboxes, a specific account's inbox (which is considered fast inbox switching), or into the complete folder and sub-folder system of a given account (how Mail has worked from iPhone 1.0 to iPhone 3.0).

Once inside, All Inboxes is visually indistinguishable from an account-specific inbox, it simply contains all of their messages.

What is distinguishable are the small carets (technically greater-than symbols) to the right of replies that indicate a message is part of a thread. A number, typically 2 or 3, accompanies the caret to indicate how many replies are in the thread.

Tapping on a message that's part of a thread doesn't take you to the message but rather to a second list-view, similar to the inbox itself, but containing only the messages from the thread. Tapping on one of them then takes you to the message. A thread view contains a small vertical bar at the top with the subject of the thread and time of the most recent reply. A button to the top left of the message that's part of the thread also contains the subject of the thread and lets you back out and see the thread again. The button then switches to contain the name of the inbox so you can back out again, leave the thread completely, and see all your messages.

So yes, the tap, tap, tap of inbox navigation persists, albeit shifted from moving into and out of inboxes to moving into and out of threaded messages.

Like iOS 3.2 for iPad, you'll be able to open email attachments in apps. Now there's no iWork (Numbers, Pages, Keynote) for iPhone yet, but plenty of apps should support it as they push out the iOS 4 compatible versions.

Great news for heavy ActiveSync users, iOS 4 supports multiple accounts. So, for example, you can now have your work Exchange server and home Google account both set up to push through ActiveSync (which is what Google Sync users behind the scenes) at the same time. Win. Win.

Also for Gmail users, the Delete button has no been properly renamed as Archive (since Google really doesn't want you deleting anything if they can possibly help it).

Lastly, in previous versions of the iPhone OS, when you wanted to abandon an email, you would hit Cancel and get options to Save (store the email in Drafts), Don't Save (trash the email), and Cancel (go back to writing the email). The naming of these options was likely too confusing so in iPhone OS they've been replaced with a big red Delete button (to trash the email), Save as Draft, and Cancel. And yes, you can still cancel a cancel. (iPad, by contrast, still has Save and Don't Save, but no Cancel since it's in a popover rather than full-screen menu and you can just tap away to cancel).

Safari

More iPad to iPhone cross-polination means we get search auto-complete in iOS. As you type, suggestions appear in a list view below. And as with the iPad, while Google and Yahoo! branding remain in the search boxes (along with Bing now as well), they no longer get brand advertising on the keyboard -- it simply remains labeled Search now regardless of which engine is set and default.

While HTML5 video would work under iPhone 3.1.3, it would launch the full screen QuickTime player to do so. Under iOS, it seems to play in-line as well [MobileGeekdom], like it does on the iPad.

If history is any indicator, Apple will likely also integrate whatever advancements WebKit and the Nitro JavaScript engine make between now and release this summer. However, there's no sign of Safari 5 desktop's key new features -- reader (think built-in Instapaper) and extensions.

iPod

When you have a song playing in the iPod app and you tap the album art, in addition to all the previous controls that popped up, you now get a dark overlay with white text giving you the info metadata of the song or podcast. This is another iPad bring-over, though not the most attractive one by a long shot. (Remember, it can be turned off in Settings).

Album art has been added to album views, jazzing up the track lists.

And in yet another iPad-like update, on-the-go playlists are dead, long live... just regular old playlists. You can add them via an item in the playlists list, at which point you get a popup that asks you for a name. Next, you tap on any songs you want to add, and when you're done, you have a new playlist. If you're not happy with it, or any playlist, just swipe to bring up the usual red Delete button and annihilate it.

Contacts

When you sync contacts from more than one source (i.e. Exchange and MobileMe, on-device and Google Sync, etc.), and there are duplicates, rather than showing the same contact twice iOS 4 will instead create a single, linked contact. This works on any iOS 4 device, including iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, recent iPod touch, etc.

If you look at a linked contact, the header will show Unified Info at the top so you know it's linked. At the very bottom of the contact it will show you the source of the links (i.e MobileMe, Google). Tapping on the source lets you see the original, non-unfied info from just that source.

If you don't like the idea of your contacts being linked, you can tap edit and hit Unlink. If iOS 4 missed linking a contact that ought be linked, tap edit, scroll down to the bottom, tap Link Contact and choose the contact you want linked.

Game Center (Preview)

Game Center is Apple's entry into the social gaming network space (think Xbox Live or Playstation Network for iOS devices). With Game Center you'll be able to invite friends to play, use matchmaking to challenge other players, gain achievements, and have your scores displayed on a leader board.

Game Center won't launch with iOS this summer, but is scheduled for release "later" this year.

iBooks

Though not a built-in app (you'll need to go get it from the App Store when it becomes available), as part of iOS Apple announced they were bringing iBooks to the iPhone.

Apple has announced new features, including notes and bookmarks, and that those along with highlights will automatically be synced across all the iOS devices logged into your iTunes accounts. (So you can have the same book, at the same place, with the same annotations on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad).

Also, iBooks will be able to add PDFs to a second book shelf and open them in the same iBooks interface.

Due to the fracture and regionalism in books, it's going to take Apple a while to get deals in place with all publishers in all areas which means most countries won't have paid content at first, only public domain books from the Project Gutenberg library.

Accessibility

Apple really doesn't get enough credit for the outstanding accessibility features they build into their OS, both desktop and mobile. iOS 4 continues to lead the industry. VoiceOver supports 21 languages to read out loud whatever your finger touches on the screen, and a "rotor" gesture lets you temporarily change languages now on the fly.

Bluetooth support has been extended to more than 30 braille devices with tables for more than 25 languages.

Touch Typing lets you run your finger across the keyboard, hear the letter you're currently over, and release your finger to type it.

The basic rotor has been made visible so sighted users can see it in action, and you can now add custom settings to move through content.

iOS 4 pricing and availability

Apple has announced that iOS 4 will be coming to iPhone and iPod touch on June 21, and iPad later this fall. In a huge departure from previous years, Apple is also making it a free update to all users, iPhone and iPod touch alike. (If you have a compatible device, see directly below).

iOS 4 device compatibility

Before we begin it's important to note that not all iOS 4 features will be available for all iOS devices.

• iPhone 4 (2010): All features
• iPad (2010): Coming this fall
• iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 (2009): No features requiring iPhone 4-type hardware (i.e. FaceTime)
• iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 (2008): No multitasking, custom wallpaper, and Bluetooth keyboard support.
• iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 (2007): not compatible/no update

Yes, the original iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 don't look to be getting iOS 4 at all -- Apple considers them outdated. Second generation iPhone 3G and iPod touch G2 are getting the update but no multitasking -- Apple doesn't consider them powerful enough (similar to video recording last year). And it should go without saying only iPhone 4 (and perhaps a forth generation iPod touch when it ships this fall) will be able to use hardware specific features like the Retina Display resolution or the front-facing camera.

Additionally, Apple's own iMovie for iPhone will only run on iPhone 4 -- apparently it needs the A4 chipset -- so there might be other apps that go 2010-only. Legacy, right?

Conclusion

Apple is again rounding out their offering with iOS 4, which is the sign of the maturity of the platform. Since they've stated several times now that they're using the iPhone to "educate" users about multitouch interfaces, they're going to continue keeping changes evolutionary for now, and the UI broadly consistent across devices. There won't be any huge, revolutionary changes again until they have to, and they don't have to yet. Restraint can be a virtue.

Some functionality is still not present, like non-interuptive notifications, widgets beyond the limited fast task switcher UI, wireless sync/sharing, less painful file round-tripping, etc. but Apple is no doubt working on this the way they worked on copy and paste and multitasking. The question is how and when, not if. After all, it's only 9 or 10 months until the iOS 5 sneak preview in spring 2011, right?

But this is not a review — our full rundown of the pros and cons will come after the official launch, when we've had a chance to spend some quality time with the final version on the new iPhone 4 hardware.

Congratulations to the iOS team at Apple, phenomenal work. Again.

[Thanks to everyone who contributed screenshots and descriptions for this walkthrough. If you noticed we missed anything, drop us a note in the comments and we'll update as needed.]

We get a lot of questions about tweaking Jailbroken iPhones, so here are a few handy tools that are free and don't require a lot of know-how in order to implement.  All you need is a bit of spare time to change your Jailbroken iPhone from stock to stunning!

Fontswap

First up is FontSwap, which allows you to change the system fonts on your iPhone. It can be found in Rock and Cydia for free.

On the main page of FontSwap you can choose to change fonts on different parts of your phone. There are certain times I have the Lock Clock font set different than the system wide fonts, and that's okay too. Whatever suits you.

I always get a lot of requests for the font I use.  It's call Simpsons font and it's available for free in Cydia and Rock.  FontSwap will come with a few default fonts to choose from, but you can download lots more for free.  Just go into Cydia or Rock and search for fontswap.  You'll get tons of new fonts you can browse and download.  Once you download them, they'll automatically go into FontSwap for you to apply.

Chat Bubbles

Another tweak I enjoy using is changing chat bubble colors.  This can be done one of two ways.  You can either make your own chat theme or you can search Rock and Cydia for "sms bubbles" and "sms balloons" and apply them via Winterboard.  There aren't a lot to choose from but making your own is pretty easy.  DeviantArt and forums like modmyi.com have a ton of users that post up chat bubbles and balloon templates you can use for your own personal use.

iBlank and BlankNull

Our last tweak for today is iBlank.  If you're jailbroken and anything like me, you want to actually see your background.  I accomplish this with iBlank.  It basically produces blank icons for you that allow you to move them around like you would apps in order to see your backgrounds.

I also installed a free app from Cydia called "BlankNull" as well.  This way, your blank icons become unclickable.  Pretty neat, eh?  I frequently reorder icons in L shapes, just along the bottom, or on a side depending on what part of a picture I want to see.  iBlank makes it really easy.

Have any cool apps you use to tweak out your jailbroken iPhone? Let us know and maybe we'll include those next time!

So with the release of the Spirit jailbreak for iPhone, 3.1.3, it’s only appropriate to post a quick how-to, so here it is.  And of course, with a jailbreaking tutorial, here comes the disclaimer:

If you’re not sure what you’re doing and have misgivings about jailbreaking, you probably should stray away.  I will say, out of all the jailbreaks that have been released, this one is one of the simplest, and I’m talking blackra1n easy.  Walkthrough and video after the break!

First, jump on over to download the Spirit jailbreak software onto your computer.  The download can be found here.  Download whichever version corresponds to your OS.  For those wondering, this WILL work with any version of iTunes, up to the current 9.1.1 version (that’s what I have on both my Macs and it works just fine).

Before doing anything else, back up ALL your data via iTunes.  I have had a few jailbreaks go downhill and it’s always good to have everything backed up just in case you have to restore or your phone gets stuck in DFU mode and you’re forced with no other option but a restore (and yes, it happens).  Spirit has an issue early on that apparently deleted people’s photos.  That’s supposed to be fixed by now, but I’d back up pictures just to be on the safe side.

Next, quit iTunes and launch Spirit.  Just click the button and wait!  After a minute you’ll see a status bar complete and you should be fully jailbroken!  You’ll be able to tell when you see the Cydia app on one of your homepages.  This is the icon you'll want to look for:

For anyone who is new to the jailbreak scene, you’ll want to open Cydia and download a few key things to enhance your experience:

• Winterboard (an essential for theming out your phone)
• Themes! (check out our jailbreak forums for some suggestions)
• Rock App (if you’d prefer it over Cydia, search “RockApp”)
• SBSettings (allows a quick swipe to access all your main toggles)

If you’d like the ability to SSH into your phone and edit themes, as well as other files, you’ll also need to download Terminal and OpenSSH.  I only recommend SSH’ing for those who have a pretty decent knowledge of the iPhone OS and how to SSH.  Deleting certain files or altering them can be disastrous if you aren’t sure what you’re doing. So again, approach with caution.  And as always, anytime you ever have software installed on your phone that allows remote access, change your root password!  If you need help doing that, jump over to the TiPb jailbreak and unlock forums .

YouTube link

iOS 4 (previously iPhone OS 4, iPhone 4.0) continues Apple's relentless yearly mobile OS beta and release cycle. If 2007 was the mainstreaming of the multitouch user interface, 2008 all about the app store, and 2009 filling in the feature list, then iPhone 4 promises to be... well, that's why we're here.

(And yes, iOS. That's the new name Apple has licensed from trademark holders Cisco to represent the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch -- and maybe soon Apple TV and who knows what else -- family.)

Apple promises 7 "tent-pole" features and 100+ new user features overall, along with 1500 major new APIs for developers. We're going to walk through the ones that matter most. As with previous years, Apple is likely to release a half-dozen or more betas, as often as every second week or so, leading up to a Gold Master (GM) seed on or around WWDC 2010 (date yet to be announced) for iPhone and iPod touch, and September for iPad.

Things can and will change. Features will come and go. And all sorts of iOS secrets will be discovered deep inside the code strings. We'll update when any of that happens.

What Hasn't Changed

As always, we'll start off by telling you what hasn't change so we can clear the deck for what has. For more information on any functionality that's pretty much identical to past versions, check out our previous walkthroughs:

• iPhone 2.0
• iPhone 2.1
• iPhone 2.2
• iPhone 3.0

• iPhone 3.1

• YouTube: Accounts were a big addition in iPhone 3.0, so iPhone 4 sits this update out, at least so far.

• Stocks: Similarly, Stocks got landscape and a slew of swipe-able data last time, so the update love gets skipped this time.
• Weather: Almost comedically at this point, it's still unchanged from iPhone 1.0. Still no HTC TouchFlo 3D style animations, no landscape mode with more/different information. Nada.
• Voice Memo: Introduced in iPhone 3.0, it looks pretty much the same in iPhone 4.
• Clock: With nothing but a lap feature added last time, we lose the "but" and keep the "nothing" for iPhone 4.
• Calculator: Upgraded back in 2.0 for landscape scientific mode, all Calculator gets this time is a slight icon tweak towards the red.

System-wide enhancements

Spell check

Spell check, which debuted in iPhone 3.2 for iPad, is a system-wide addition to iPhone 4 now as well. Words the OS thinks you've misspelled will be underlined in red (familiar to any Microsoft Office or Mac OS X user). Tapping on them will give you a popup containing a recommended replacement. Tapping that replaces the misspelled word with the (hopefully!) correctly spelled one.

Combined with the iPhone's existing -- and industry leading -- predictive auto-correct, it's a powerful combination.

Text Replace

Cut, copy, and paste also gets an iPad-debuting feature with "replace" now added to the popup options.

Bluetooth Keyboard Support

You're going to get tired of us saying "like the iPad" but remember when we told you spring's influx of iPad news would be important come summer's new iPhone news? You were warned for a reason. iPhone is getting iPad's Bluetooth keyboard support. Thank goodness for that.

Home Screen

SpringBoard app, the power behind the Home Screen gets an iPhone 3.2 for iPad-style update to support custom wallpaper. Yes, the default background in iPhone 4 beta 1 is water drops on gray, which is not default but included in the iPad's wallpaper gallery (yet strangely not included in iPhone 4's) Also like iPad, the Mac OS X reflective Dock (buh-bye grid) and translucent top bar have been brought over.

Apple has brought over some of the iPad wallpapers but also introduced a few new ones, all seemingly focused on livening up the home screen without being too visually distracting. Natural textures and muted patterns get an obvious focus here with stones, rocks, and textiles front and center.

(See all of them in our iOS beta 4 wallpaper gallery)

In addition to previous status icons, the top bar will now show a north-east pointing arrow to alert you that location-based services (GPS) are being used. (So you'll see this in Maps and when using navigation, location-based social networks or games, etc.)

In addition to the previous color bands across the top of the screen that indicate running voice or data connections (green for Phone, red for Voice Memo, blue for tethering) red is used again to indicate a VoIP app (like Skype) is active in the background.

As mentioned, the Calculator app also gets a new icon. Where things get more exciting is how Home Screen has once again been extended to visualize new, core-level OS changes.

Spotlight

First, and strangely least, the Spotlight Home Screen introduced in iPhone 3.0 now gets to look beyond on-device data and reach for the clouds. Literally. Well, insomuch as the cloud here is Google and Wikipedia, which are very welcome additions. (Hopefully Twitter will be added in as well at some point). Tapping either will launch you into Mobile Safari and the appropriate search result page.

Multitasking

While Apple's built-in apps (like iPod, Mail, etc.) have had background multitasking since 1.0. Now, four years, many gripes, and stiffer Google Android competition than ever, background multitasking comes to App Store apps. At least for the iPhone 3GS and the 4th generation iPhone Apple will more than likely introduce this coming summer. RAM limitations and Apple's abject refusal to put their name on an implementation where hardware constrains software -- see video recording last year -- means iPhone 3G will get a lot of 4.0, but won't get multitasking.

We won't get into the saved-state, streaming music, location, and VoIP APIs, push and local notifications, and task completion that make up the 6 innards of the service because this is a GUI walkthrough. Fast task switching, however, is where we see background multitasking made manifest, and this is what it looks like.

You double tap the Home Screen and the UI turns translucent and slides up, allowing you to peek at the apps running "under the hood". (Technically frozen with state saved an threads registered with those APIs, but we're trying not to get technical here). Positionally the Fast Task Switcher apps take up the space traditionally reserved for the Dock, so while it's a tad confusing the concept of apps at the bottom of the screen being more permanent and easily accessible remains. Behaviorally, while they look like a secret dock, they function like the Home Screen itself in that you can swipe from right to left to scroll through a several 4-icon sets of multitasking apps. We don't know what the upper limit is yet (11 pages like Home Screen itself?) but it's a lot.

Given even the iPhone 3GS has only 256MB of RAM, we assume Apple will discretely kill off the least-used app in the stack when things get tight. Whether or not that means the icon disappears from the multitasking GUI we don't know, but worst case you just have to go to the Home Screen, re-launch it (hopefully from saved state) and all you notice is a slightly longer start up time.

In iOS beta 3, the fast app switcher UI gained a soft-version of the iPad's orientation lock and audio controls. When you double click the home button to bring up the fast app switcher, you can now scroll all the way to the left to get the new orientation lock and audio controls. The default on the orientation is off but a tap will turn on, or turn off, the lock. (Home screen doesn't sound like it rotates, however).

Audio controls include back, play/pause, and forward, with the name of the current track written beneath. If music is being played via the iPod app, the iPod icon will be displayed to quickly get you back to that app. If you're streaming via the iTunes app (i.e. a podcast) then the iTunes icon will be displayed instead. We're guessing iOS will show you the icon of whichever app is currently playing music using the new background audio API, and yes we mean Slacker and Pandora when they're enabled as well.

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At the iPhone 4 event, Steve Jobs likened task managers (in the multitasking, not to-do sense) to styluses -- if you need them there's something wrong. However, if you hold your finger down on multitasking apps to make the jiggle and bring up a delete icon that, if you tap it, removes them. Added to the list of things we don't know -- whether that kills their API thread or merely removes them from the Fast App Switcher interface. (And no, sadly you can't re-arrange jiggling apps for fast switching, at least not yet -- if you want your favorites close at hand, that remains a Dock thing).

The background for the app switcher (and for folders) has also changed from the rubbery, pock-mocked, dark gray of beta 1 and 2 to a new cross-hatched medium gray in beta 3.

The presentation may not be as visually slick as Palm webOS' Card view (which looks like iPhone Safari's Page view) or Mac OS X Exposé mode, but it keeps those 85,000,000 existing iPhone and iPod touch users grounded in the interface they're familiar with and that's what Apple is prioritizing.

Note: Previously you could assign the double-click Home to trigger Phone Favorites, Camera, or Spotlight. On iPhone 3G under iOS those options remain. On iPhone 3GS under iOS, you can now double-click-and-hold on Home to trigger Phone Favorites, but there doesn't appear to be any mechanism to re-assign that functionality to Camera or Spotlight (see Settings, below). [@oliok] This appears to be gone under Beta 3.

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iOS beta 2 introduced a new, circling, side-switching animation for multitasking fast app switching. The new animation occurs when you switch between two apps either via the new, double-click-Home to trigger to launch the multitasking UI, or when one app calls another app (i.e. when you're in Contacts and you tap to send a contact an SMS).

Launching or leaving an app retains the same, zoom-based effect as always (though the wallpaper in iOS zooms slightly as well, like on the iPad).

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Folders

There are 180,000 apps in the App Store and likely a ton more by the time I finish writing the sentence. Literally. iPhone 1.0 had one Home Screen but with only the built-in apps available back then, it wasn't even a limitation. With WebApps, it grew to 9 pages for a 148 app limit. With iPhone 3.0 we were given 8 pages, for 180 apps viewable, but you could install many more and use Spotlight as a way of finding and launching them. Organizing them still wasn't a real option.

Enter Folders. A Folder is simply a grouped icon that holds up to 12 other icons inside it. (And for those keeping count at home, the new math means a whopping 2016 apps can be kept on-screen at once. Shudder).

The way it works is you tap a Folder icon and once again the Home Screen fades and splits open, this time below the Folder. Inside the split are all the apps contained in the group.

To create a Folder, you begin by tapping and holding an icon to put it in jiggly mode, just like you did before to delete or move it. Then, drag it over and drop it on top of another icon to create a Folder. (This works better when icons aren't at the right edge of the screen, as the move behavior seems to supersede the Folder behavior, causing the icon to wrap to the next line before you can drop on top of it.) Once created, iPhone OS reads the apps' category data and tries to name the folder for you, but you can easily edit it to anything you want.

To remove apps from a Folder, put them in jiggly mode inside the Folder and drag them out (or just delete them if you don't want them anywhere anymore). You can also move them around within the Folder to customize their order.

Folders can be put in jiggly mode and moved as well, but not deleted (they can only be deleted by removing all the apps from within them, and which point they self-destruct for you). You can even move them to the Dock, which means you could have 48 apps readily available at any time for quick launching.

And while you still can't delete Apple's built-in apps, you can take the ones you're not using and hide them away inside a folder so they waste as little Home Screen space as possible (not that that's as big a deal now as it used to be...)

Again, not as visually exciting perhaps as Mac OS X's Stacks, but it keeps current iPhone users in a familiar interface while adding much-needed functionality.

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Messages

Messages in iPhone 4 gets the same built-in Spotlight search that Mail and other apps got with iPhone 3.0. It appears at the top of the main messages screen. (There's no search within an individual Messages thread). [@justin_horn]

Messages also (finally) gets a character counter so you'll know when you're getting close to, or going past, the SMS limit (which would cause a second message to be sent). It kicks in after you've typed 50 characters or so. [@iMuggle]

There's also a new API to allow in-app SMS for developers who want to include the functionality in their own apps. While this might be similar to the iPhone 3.0 embedded email option, and whether or not it will let users reply to SMS without leaving an app, it doesn't seem as elegant a solution as a global background messaging system.

Calendar

Calendar removes two long-standing gripes and adds something pretty much invisible from the interface but awesome in terms of functionality.

First, you can now show all or hide all calendars or individually check/uncheck just the calendars you want to see.

Birthday calendars have also been added to the option, something that was previously only possible to see under certain setup conditions.

Lastly and most excitingly, Apple has finally added Calendar access for developers. What this means is, we'll soon see applications where, by way of example, you can download a movie app, buy tickets for a local screening, and the app will be able to automatically add the show time to your Calendar.

Photos

Photos, at least for Mac users, gets the same iPhoto '09-based organizational features introduced with the iPad: Events, Faces, and Places.

If you have a Mac with iPhoto '09 and you've let it automatically file your photos by time stamp (Events), through facial-recognition algorithms (Faces), and via geo-location (Places). All these join the previous Albums view to form the bottom tab bar.

Landscape mode is also now supported in album and gallery views [@antonioj].

The action button now includes a Rotate function (yes!) that turns a photo 90 degrees counter-clockwise (to the left).

If you Email Photo, you now get the option of sending a smaller version (compressed dimensions and hence file size), or at actual size.

Lastly, developers have been given access to the photo and video library (not just the image picker as in previous OS versions).

Camera

Tap to focus, introduced in iPhone 3.0 for still photography, now gets expanded to video recording for the iPhone 3GS (and presumably the 4th generation iPhone).

Still photography maintains its leg up, however, via a new 5x digital zoom. When you tap the screen, a slider pops up allowing you to swipe to the right to increase magnification and swipe left to decrease.

Developers also get full access to and control of video playback and recording.

Maps

A minor tweak, but the current location/current direction button changes from the previous crosshairs to a north-east pointer to match the new location services icon used in the title bar. (No iPhone 3.2 for iPad-style terrain mode, at least not yet).

For developers, overlays can now be added to embedded maps to show extra data like routes or annotations.

Notes

When you first enter notes it looks unchanged from previous versions of the iPhone OS. However, there is now an Accounts button at the top left of the list page and tapping it takes you to a new screen where you can choose to view All Notes, just the notes on your iPhone, or just the notes that are synced via IMAP to your email account(s). Yes, that means over the air (OTA) notes sync is finally here -- with the caveat that Exchange doesn't seem supported yet.

(UI-wise this is similar to how you back out/left in Calendar or Contacts to toggle data sources.)

The way these show up in Mac OS X is via the built-in Mail.app client in the Notes tab.

On Gmail they show up as a generic label. In other IMAP clients, regardless of OS, they'll show up as generic IMAP folders.

iTunes Store

The iTunes store itself is the same, however, audio streaming from the app itself has taken a huge leap forward. Since iPhone OS 2.2 you've been able to tap the title of a podcast to begin streaming (rather than downloading) the audio, even in the background while using other apps, but it was sometimes hit or miss. It would drop out, it would time out, you couldn't really scrub through it, and if you left it for a while it would lose its place and start over.

In iOS it's rock solid. You can scrub and it re-buffers and keeps playing flawlessly. You can stop it and come back hours or even days later -- even after using the iTunes app to search for other things or the iPod app to play different audio -- and it still knows where you left off and starts playing again instantly without missing a beat.

Settings

This year, like every year, some of the more numerous and interesting changes Apple delivers in their new OS are tucked neatly away in the Settings app.

General: Network

You can now choose to not only turn off 3G data or roaming data, but all cellular data.

General: Location Services

At the iOS event, Apple made a big deal about user privacy when it came to location (like a shot at Google). That manifests here with far more granular controls over which apps are allowed to access your location data (GPS, Wi-Fi mapping, and cell tower triangulation) and the aforementioned north-east pointing arrow that shows up when any app has used your location in the last 24 hours.

General: Home Button

Rather than gaining functions, the Home Button setting loses several. Since double-click for iOS on the iPhone 3GS (and presumably future iPhone hardware) is now reserved for launching the multitasking interface, gone is the option to assign it to launch Spotlight, Camera, or iPod. Also gone is the option to have it launch iPod when audio is playing.

Double-click-and-hold will now trigger Phone Favorites on the iPhone 3GS, but no options are presented yet to re-assign that to Spotlight, Camera, or iPod. So, the only thing that remains are the Spotlight search inclusion options. Looks downright barren now...

Since iPhone 3G won't be getting multitasking (Apple cites hardware, i.e. RAM constraints) those options remain under iOS for that device.

General: Passcode Lock

Previously available only through an Enterprise profile, iPhone 4 brings stronger, alphanumeric passcodes to all iPhone users. That means you're no longer stuck with only a 4 digit pin, but can now create longer passcodes with far greater variation. Of course, longer, more varied passcodes are more of a hassle to remember and enter, but that's the cost of good security.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

As previously mentioned, Notes will now sync over IMAP and the settings for that appear here. First, all the way at the bottom, you can choose which account to use as the default for note sync.

Inside MobileMe, Gmail, or other IMAP accounts, you can choose whether or not to enable sync. Again, there's no support for Exchange ActiveSync accounts yet (including Gmail via GoogleSync).

Messages

Here's where you can turn on that new character count option.

iPod

The iPod app now has an overlay that shows you information about songs and podcasts. While functional it's not terribly attractive so it's nice to be able to toggle it off right here.

App Store

iPhone 2.0 brought us the iTunes App Store, iPhone 3.0 added in-app purchases, and now iOS raises the mercantile stakes once again...

iAd

iAd will provide developers with an easy-as-Xcode way to place advertising in their apps, both paid and free. Apple is setting a high bar for their ads, however. No simple Google-style text, annoying punch-the-monkey, or jarring transition out of the app and into the browser, they claim to want great looking, highly interactive, emotionally compelling content that will connect with rather than alienate users. Served every 3 minutes. Yeah...

Functionally these are built in HTML5 (no Flash need apply) and seem to work as apps-within-apps. Tapping on a banner brings up a full-screen ad-as-webapp and examples shown included plenty of animated UI effects and content that ranged from videos to freebies like wallpaper, to free and paid apps you could download from within the ad (no trip to the App Store needed). An exit button is persistent at the top left so users can quit the add at any time.

Apple will be selling and serving the ads, so all we can do is hope they're unobtrusive and actually reach the quality levels presented. For paid apps that also try to include in-app iAds, that bar will rightly be very, very high.

Task completion

With iPhone 4, when you close and app and that app is still performing an activity, the OS will allow it to complete that activity in the background. For example, downloading or uploading content from the internet.

Streaming music, location, and VoIP API

The underside of the multitasking/fast app switching UI mentioned at the beginning of the walkthrough are three specific types of API that an app can register threads with when you close them out. These are intended for streaming music (Pandora or Slacker being the classic examples), location-aware (i.e turn-by-turn navigation, check-in games, social networks, etc.), and VoIP (Skype and SIP clients) to register with the OS when you exit the apps proper so that your music can keep streaming, location can keep tracking, and VoIP can still alert you of phone calls even when the app isn't running.

There's no time-line API for instant messaging (IM), Twitter, etc. to register their threads with, however. Apple believes existing Push Notifications are sufficient but that means once an alert is received and you tap View, the app still has to pause and load the timeline/messages before you can view them. This is unlike the built-in Mail and Messages (SMS/MMS) apps that have new messages loaded and waiting when you get there.

Local Notifications

Like Push Notifications in iPhone 3.0 but not requiring an outside, internet connected server, local notifications will let apps you're using (and perhaps apps that have registered one of the three types of background threads mentioned above) send you popup boxes, sound alerts, and icon badges.

For the user, these should be functionally the same and perhaps indistinguishable.

Quick Look

Just like Mail can preview documents, Quick Look will allow developers to present the same functionality in their apps.

Accelerate

2000 hardware accelerated math APIs probably won't be seen by users, but there's not doubt we'll feel them in the games. Zoom. Zoom.

File Sharing

Again it looks like the iPhone is finally getting in iOS what the iPad got in 3.2 with the file/document transfer feature now exposed in iTunes sync.

While the iPad version identifies document-friendly apps (like Apple's own Keynote, Numbers, and Pages) and lets you find and sync over files, the iOS beta 3 version currently only shows Mail and Stanza and doesn't really let you do much else. However, it stands to reason this will at least reach feature parity with the iPad when Apple releases iOS to the public later this summer.

Now all we need is an elegant way to share and wirelessly sync those documents across multiple devices and users. MobileMe 2.0, souped up iWork.com 2.0, where are you?

Mail

Mail gets a unified inbox. Let's write that again -- Mail gets a unified inbox. For those with multiple email accounts whose previous iPhone experience involved tapping into and out of those boxes many, many times a day this is a hugely welcome addition.

As with Calendars, Notes, etc. you can tap a button on the top left, in this case Mailboxes, to back into a selection screen where you can then go into All Inboxes, a specific account's inbox (which is considered fast inbox switching), or into the complete folder and sub-folder system of a given account (how Mail has worked from iPhone 1.0 to iPhone 3.0).

Once inside, All Inboxes is visually indistinguishable from an account-specific inbox, it simply contains all of their messages.

What is distinguishable are the small carets (technically greater-than symbols) to the right of replies that indicate a message is part of a thread. A number, typically 2 or 3, accompanies the caret to indicate how many replies are in the thread.

Tapping on a message that's part of a thread doesn't take you to the message but rather to a second list-view, similar to the inbox itself, but containing only the messages from the thread. Tapping on one of them then takes you to the message. A thread view contains a small vertical bar at the top with the subject of the thread and time of the most recent reply. A button to the top left of the message that's part of the thread also contains the subject of the thread and lets you back out and see the thread again. The button then switches to contain the name of the inbox so you can back out again, leave the thread completely, and see all your messages.

So yes, the tap, tap, tap of inbox navigation persists, albeit shifted from moving into and out of inboxes to moving into and out of threaded messages.

Although not yet implemented in the current beta, like iPhone OS 3.2 for iPad, you'll be able to open email attachments in apps. Now there's no iWork (Numbers, Pages, Keynote) for iPhone yet, and the app Apple used to introduce this function doesn't exist on iPhone yet either. Interesting.

Lastly, in previous versions of the iPhone OS, when you wanted to abandon an email, you would hit Cancel and get options to Save (store the email in Drafts), Don't Save (trash the email), and Cancel (go back to writing the email). The naming of these options was likely too confusing so in iPhone OS they've been replaced with a big red Delete button (to trash the email), Save as Draft, and Cancel. And yes, you can still cancel a cancel. (iPad, by contrast, still has Save and Don't Save, but no Cancel since it's in a popover rather than full-screen menu and you can just tap away to cancel).

Safari

More iPad to iPhone cross-polination means we get search auto-complete from both Google and Yahoo! in iOS. As you type, suggestions appear in a list view below. And as with the iPad, while Google and Yahoo! branding remain in the search boxes, they no longer get brand advertising on the keyboard -- it simply remains labeled Search now regardless of which engine is set and default.

As usual, Apple seems to be increasing Safari's HTML5 support. While HTML5 video would work under iPhone 3.1.3, it would launch the full screen QuickTime player to do so. Under iOS, it seems to play in-line as well [MobileGeekdom], like it does on the iPad.

If history is any indicator, Apple will likely also integrate whatever advancements WebKit and the Nitro JavaScript engine make between now and release this summer.

iPod

When you have a song playing in the iPod app and you tap the album art, in addition to all the previous controls that popped up, you now get a dark overlay with white text giving you the info metadata of the song or podcast. This is another iPad bring-over, though not the most attractive one by a long shot. (Remember, it can be turned off in Settings).

Album art has been added to album views, jazzing up the track lists. [Gizmodo]

And in yet another iPad-like update, on-th-go playlists are dead, long live... just regular old playlists. You can add them via an item in the playlists list, at which point you get a popup that asks you for a name. Next, you tap on any songs you want to add, and when you're done, you have a new playlist. If you're not happy with it, or any playlist, just swipe to bring up the usual red Delete button and annihilate it.

Nike+

You can now send you run data directly from the iPhone. [When Will Apple]. Under History, tap Send to Nike+ and you're off and running (sorry). You're then sent to Safari so you can login to Nike+ and see your data.

Game Center (Preview)

Game Center is Apple's entry into the social gaming network space (think Xbox Live or Playstation Network for iPhone OS devices). With Game Center you'll be able to invite friends to play, use matchmaking to challenge other players, gain achievements, and have your scores displayed on a leader board.

Game Center won't launch with iOS this summer, but is scheduled for release "later" this year.

iBooks

Though not a built-in app (you'll need to go get it from the US App Store when it becomes available), as part of iOS Apple announced they were bringing iBooks to the iPhone.

Not Concluded

This preview won't be concluded until Apple concludes iOS with its final release this summer for iPhone and iPod touch, and this fall for iPad (unless that becomes iPhone 4.1).

iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS owners should get it for free as Apple's 2-year accounting procedure allows. That there's been no word about iPhone 2G owners could mean it's either not going to be available for the oldest hardware, it won't be free, or... there's simply been no word yet. Likewise, there's been no word on iPod touch pricing though it was $9.95 for iPhone 3.0. There's been no word on iPod touch G1 availability either, however. Apple's SDK agreement has revealed that iPad users who bought with 3.2 will get 4.0 for free but not subsequent major updates (i.e. iPhone OS 5 in 2011).

Again, there will be roughly 6 to 8 betas released on a roughly bi-weekly schedule from now until WWDC 2010 when we'll likely hear about the final version, whatever extra features will come with the next-generation iPhone (current rumors suggest iChat video), and get a final release data -- likely also to coincide with the next-gen iPhone release date.

We'll update this preview as more and better information becomes available, so if you notice anything we missed or just plain got wrong, send it in or let us know in the comments.

Note on Using Beta Software

If you're not a developer, don't even think about putting iOS beta on your main iPhone. Betas are for testing purposes and could contain any number of bugs and performance issues, could stop working or require updates when you may not have access to one, or otherwise give you problems when used in a manner for which they're not intended. Stay away.

[Thanks to everyone who contributed screenshots and descriptions for this walkthrough]

Along with iPhone 3.1 and the new iPod nano, iTunes 9 was the big news at Apple's It's only rock and roll but I like it annual music event. And for iPhone and iPod touch users -- our focus here at TiPb -- a large part of that 3.1 update (see our iPhone 3.1 walkthrough) comes from iTunes 9.

Last things first, no, it wasn't re-written as a 64-bit app, or in Cocoa for the Mac. (Get of our iLawn!) However, with iPhone and iPod touch users firmly in mind, let's take a look at the new features we did get...

Improved Syncing and App Organization

Syncing is more robust in iTunes 9, with more panels and more options within each panel (especially Applications).

The Summary tab, if you're syncing an iPhone 3GS, now includes a "configure for universal access" option, which pops up something very similar to iPhone 3.1's universal access menu if home button triple-click is enabled.

The Applications tab received the most stupendous make-over. Instead of a raw list with check boxes, you're presented with a more useful list view on the left, showing app icons, category and the file size. You can sort by name, category, or date of download, and there's even a handy search box. On the right is a replica of your iPhone home screen, along with thumbnails of additional home screens along the right hand side. (iPhone 3.x allows 11 home screens).

You can still add apps to the sync list by checking or unchecking them, but you can now also add them by dragging the icon directly to the home screen -- and exact position on the home screen -- you want them. To delete them, just select the app on the home screen and click on the X, just like on the iPhone in "jiggly" mode. (And no, you still can't delete Apple's built-in apps, sorry!) Likewise, you can move icons around on -- and between the different -- home screen representations, making it much easier and faster to get the exact iPhone layout you want (when you apply your changes and sync them over). You can also drag iPhone home screen pages around to re-order them, much like PowerPoint slides in thumbnail view.

The Music tab (yes, we're skipping Ringtones, it's fairly pedestrian) gives you a bit more control, as now in addition to the previous ways you could sync music, you can also choose to move across entire artists and genres. You can also choose to have iTunes automatically fill up any space you may have remaining on your (now potentially beefier 32GB iPhone and 64GB(!) iPod touch) with music. (We didn't test this, but presumably it doesn't do Genius fills... yet!). No album art deco, here, however.

The Movies tab has been liberated from the generic iTunes 8 "videos" catch-all to get its own space, and it uses it well. Poster art is displayed, along with run time, file size, and age-rating. You can choose to automatically sync, or just check the ones you want.

The TV Shows tab, similarly liberated, now has a two column view showing artwork and, in the epic win category, a second column where you can choose exactly which episodes of a given show you want to sync over (no more generic "last 3..." whatever! -- though you can still choose to automatically fill that way if you like.)

The Podcasts tab allows for the same episode-by-episode custom syncing options as TV Shows. Did I say epic win already?

The iTunes U tab, independent now from Podcasts, nevertheless gets the same new features.

The Photos tab, for iPhoto users on the Mac, is a much more significant update than it is for PC users. If you have iPhone 09, you can now sync based on folder, event, and faces (if you've gone through the facial recognition process and set some up). You can also choose to sync and videos in iPhone, such as those you took with your iPhone 3GS. Once synced across, they'll appear in the photo galleries on the iPhone just as they did in the camera roll on the 3GS. Great addition.

Bottom line, the syncing really is much improved, especially for apps.

iTunes App

Subtle differences the gradients in the iTunes chrome aside, there are a few changes worth noting in the iTunes app itself. First, the sidebar has been tweaked, with iTunes U broken out and iTunes Genius Mixes added (though you need to update Genius first to get it to show -- more on that later).

Music gets new column displays, and better options for organizing them.

Apps are now full citizens in the iTunes interface, with list, "album", and CoverFlow views, to help better manage all of our growing app collections.

For Music, Movies, and TV Shows (but strangely now Applications, Ringtunes, or other purchasable content), if your library is empty, instead of showing you that emptiness, iTunes will show you how to go about filling it.

If you let iTunes automatically manage your folders, there's a new, better organized way of doing it. If you're upgrading to iTunes 9, however, you have to manually tell it you want to switch to the new format (File > Library > Organize Library). The new format stops dumping movies, TV shows, and other video at the same directory level as music artists, and now puts the alongside the top music folder proper (though the overall folder is still, strangely, still called iTunes Music). Regardless, a great change and about time.

Speaking of about time, one of the new folders is called Automatically Add to iTunes, and iTunes will watch this folder and automatically add any new, compatible content to the library. (Incompatible content is isolated and flagged as such). So, if you get your content from a service other than iTunes, you can have it download here and iTunes will still see it and add it. Longtime coming, this feature. And -- pow! -- take that faux-monopoly pundits.

Lastly, on the Mac, the green widow button at the top left no longer switches between the regular iTunes window and tiny player. It now uses default Mac behavior of switching between full size and user-defined size. To get to the tiny player, you can alt-click the green button or use the menu or keyboard shortcut (shift+cmd m).

Genius Mixes

Added to Genius Playlists are Genius Mixes, though in a very un-Apple-like way, it's not immediately intuitive where to find them. That's because you can't find them until you go to the Store menu and choose Update Genius. (Tip of the hat to TUAW).

Once that's done, Genius Mix will pop up in the sidebar beneath Genius Playlists and... create a few mixes you can't view a list of or edit or alter in any way (you can only see 4 album covers stitched together to represent the mix). Apple made them sound like radio stations, which aside from calling in requests, you have zero control over anyway, but still, this feature feels a little incomplete right now.

iTunes will create up to 12 Genius Mixes depending on how much music it finds and can work with. I got 4. 2 of those were soundtrack mixes with similar soundtracks. Apple says you might discover music you forgot you had. I sure did. Deleted some of it...

Your results will hopefully be better, and if they are, you can sync the resulting Genius Mix Playlists over to your iPhone or iPod.

iTunes Home Sharing

No, it won't let you elegantly sync your iPhone or iPod from different, authorized machines. Unfortunately, that holy-grain of functionality still eludes us. (Granted, it may be complicated to properly sync when, for example, you have a movie in your iTunes library on a large desktop drive, but don't happen to have it on your smaller laptop library -- but we know you can do it, Apple!)

Home Sharing is, however, an improvement on the plain vanilla streaming that was provided in previous versions of iTunes. Now, once you've properly authorized your computer for Home Sharing (and you're limited to 5 authorizations, as before) using your iTunes username and password, you can not only see and play media on other machines, you can copy it from one machine to another. What's more, you can set up iTunes to automatically copy any new media from one machine to another, allowing you to keep that home theater machine in sync with the home office machine and laptop, for example. However, iTunes will only automatically copy content your buy over the iTunes store. If you get your media from somewhere else, it's up to you to copy it over, manual-style. Also, display of a shared library is limited to list view, which is odd considering Back to My Mac can display network folders in icon or CoverFlow view just fine. Perhaps Home Sharing is another of those early introductions that will mature in time (with multi-machine iPhone sync, right?)

One really nice feature that is in place, however, is a handy Show drop down at the bottom. You can flip it from All items to Items not in my library, a perfect way to find content you may have missed copying over.

iTunes 9 Store

The iTunes 9 Store has a new look and feel. First of all, it's whiter. The backgrounds, that is. Except where they're black, in the Movies and TV section, and framed in blue for iTunes U. Way to nail down that consistency.

The new backgrounds, expect for iTunes U (which has been re-organized and separated out from Podcasts where it used to live), look both roomier and less well segmented at the same time. There's also a new, almost iPhone-esque black menu bar which introduces the the drop-down to iTunes. It's convenient, if a tad gauche at this point.

When you search, results share the new, breathable layout, and easy, iconified filters appear in a sidebar on the left.

Definitely more usable than before, though I'm not sure the little "buy now" with drop menus on the side will ever grow on me. You can, however, use them to gift, add to wishlist (yes, wishlists replace shopping carts in iTunes 9), copy the link, tell a friend, or share via Facebook or Twitter.

Social media integration was one of the big rumors preceding iTunes 9, with everything up to a "social app" and massive cloud-served, crowd-sourced recommendation engine said to be on the horizon. Turns out you can just autofill a Twitter form with the item in question. It's a first step, to be certain, albeit a tiny little one.

A few of the larger changes, we'll cover separately.

iTunes LP and iTunes Extras

iTunes LP, much gossiped about under the code-name Cocktail, is an attempt to either harness the nostalgia of by-gone days when vinyl records played on turn-tables and hours were consumed listening and pouring over cover art, liners, lyrics, and other assorted goodies, or dodgy scheme to get people to buy entire albums again instead of cherry-picking singles.

Likely its equal parts both. There are only 7 iTunes LP-format items available as of this writing, some for purchase (like the Doors), some as part of an iTunes Pass (like Dave Matthews). Four more are listed as available for pre-purchase.

iTunes Extras are the movie equivalent, similar to the extra features you could previously only find on DVDs. Like iTunes LP, there's limited selection right now, and half of that is pre-order. And, what's a deal-breaker for me, it doesn't appear to be in HD (yet?)

There's a lot going on under the covers (so to speak) with both iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, including more WebKit interactive goodness, and a refreshing lack of DRM (keep it up!), but the 720p format of some of the material makes us think it's less intended for the iPhone (indeed, it's iTunes bound right now), and more for eventual Apple TV and... iTablet use.

Says Apple's support article:

The songs or featured movies can be viewed directly on iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple TV, but iTunes LP or iTunes Extras can only be viewed from within iTunes on an authorized computer. In order to view the complete iTunes LP or iTunes Extras, transfer the song or movie from your device to your iTunes library on the computer that contains the downloaded iTunes LP or iTunes Extras.

Like any new feature, or variation on a format, they're going to squeak a little right now when they turn around too fast, but it will be interesting to see how they develop.

Conclusion

iTunes 9 is free and has enough great new features for iPhone and iPod touch owners, especially the new App Management interface, that it's an easy upgrade to recommend. While not all of the new features appear fully mature yet, that's why they're new and hopefully Apple will continue to both evolve and refine them as they have with previously introduced features.

What will be especially interesting is watching Apple handle iTunes growth and -- according to some, -- bloat. The equal and opposite reaction to increased functionality is loss of focus, and iTunes going from a simple music player to a complex media and sync manager hasn't come without a price. Apple will need to work hard to make sure it's a price most users continue to be willing to pay.

As always, if any of you iTunes ninja notice that we've missed whole swathes of great new, if harder to find, functionality in the latest release of Apple's media hub, let us know in the comments and we'll update.

On the fence about downloading iPhone 3.1? Wondering what’s changed since iPhone 3.0? Need a handy link to send your friends who may have questions? TiPb’s got your back with our complete iPhone 3.1 Software Walkthrough.

Previously, we took you through all three beta versions, now we’ll take you through the final release.

And we’ll get started, right after the break.

What Hasn't Changed

A lot. Too much to list neatly this time around. When you finish reading this walkthrough, go back and read our iPhone 3.0 walkthrough. It's a giant compared to this.

Still, there are a few talking points...

iTunes 9 Features

It's also worth noting that a couple of new features touted for iPhone 3.1, like Genius Mixes, and App Management are actually contained in the simultaneously released iTunes 9. See our iTunes 9 Software Walkthrough for more.

Bug Fixes

Big .0 releases are typically followed up swiftly with quick .1 bug fixes. While the swift part here is debatable -- though on par with last year's update -- the bug fixes aren't. Among the issues addressed:

• Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
• Fixes issue that cause some app icons to display incorrectly

Note, we'd heard iPhone 3.1 would also fix the Spotlight issue that displayed deleted emails, but Apple doesn't list it, and we've heard reports it isn't yet fixed. (Though it apparently was in iPhone 3.1 Beta 3. Strange.)

Home Screen

With the iPhone 3GS and its accessibility features, you can now enable triple-clicking of the Home Button to toggle VoiceOver, Toggle White on Black, and Ask (which then will pop up a menu offering Turn VoiceOver On, Turn Zoom On, Turn White on Black On).

Voice Control

Voice Control in iPhone 3.0, after holding down the Home button for several seconds, let you speak simple commands to place calls and control music. With iPhone 3.1, it will now also work over Bluetooth.

Just hold down the Bluetooth call button as you would the Home Button, let go, and Voice Control pops up. State your command into the BT mic, and Voice Control will "speak" the confirmation (whether it gets it right or not) through the BT earpiece.

MobileMe Find My iPhone Remote Passcode Lock

Expanding on the Find My iPhone remote tracking and wiping service that came with iPhone 3.0, you can now also remotely assign a passcode lock. This is a nice half-way ground between leaving your iPhone wide open, or having to wipe it clean, if you can’t find it but aren’t sure you’ve permanently lost it.

Messages

Still no MMS for AT&T users. That's being released on September 25 (though whether it will require an iPhone 3.1.1 update, or just a new carrier file is unknown).

For those outside the US with working MMS, you can tap the action button at bottom, left to save them to the camera roll, just like you could previously do with pictures under iPhone 3.0.

Calendar

Calendar gets a minor tweak in iPhone 3.1. Now event alerts also display the location of the event in the popup. Presumably, this is now considered important glance-able information.

Photos

Video trimming is now non-destructive. Previously, if you trimmed a video, it was automatically saved over the original, meaning you could never undo or go back to the full clip. Now, a Save As... dialog gives you the option of preserving the original and creating as many version copies as you want (an short clip to email, a longer one to share to YouTube, and the full clip to sync and bring into iMovie, for example).

Maps

We haven't seen this show up yet ourselves, but during Steve Jobs' iPhone 3.1 overview, the slide behind him listed Sponsored Links in Maps as a... feature. (Maybe that's why Google CEO, Eric Schmidt was there?). Not quite sure how we feel about this in a built-in app either, as opposed to a site we choose to navigate to in Safari...

Settings

Setting usually accounts for the longest list of changes in a new iPhone firmware, but this time it's fairly short.

Settings: General: Usage now includes a separate meter for Tethering Data. Apologies again, AT&T users, but for those outside the US -- if it proves reliable! -- it could help avoid nasty overage charges if you exceed your data cap.

Settings: General: Accessibility includes that aforementioned toggle for the Home Button triple-click to enable quick Accessibility switching. Options include Off, Toggle VoiceOver, Toggle White on Black, or Ask which will launch a pop-up and let you choose between the above and Turn Zoom On.

Settings: Safari now, finally, has that toggle to enable Fraud Warnings for malicious web sites (like phishing sites, malware sites, etc.).

iTunes Store

iPhone 3.1 lets you display available iTunes account credit both iTunes Store, and in the App Store, and allows you to redeem gift cards and other promotional codes.

Also, iTunes U is now "better organized".

In addition, displacing Podcasts (which moves to the other side of the tracks beneath the More tab) is Ringtones, displayed like music, and available ready-made for $1.29.

App Store

Since the App Store is closer akin to a local WebView, it's fairly easy for Apple to update the App Store (or iTunes Store) without updating the firmware. Case in point, the night before iPhone 3.1 went live, the App Store was updated to feature "Top Grossing" as one of the view options.

Apple has extended their Genius technology to recommend apps as well in iPhone 3.1. The Genius tab appears under Featured, taking the left-most slot. Once you log in, activate, agree to the terms of service (twice!), Genius will crowd-source other iTunes App Store users with similar tastes in an effort to suggest apps you don't have but might enjoy. (The app on which the recommendation is based is listed on top of the suggested app -- nice touch).

As mentioned above, you can now also see your current iTunes Store credits in the App Store, and you can now also redeem iTunes gift cards, promo codes, and certificates here as well. Feature. Parity.

Phone

Copy and Paste comes to the Phone Keypad. Just tap and hold and the input area will change from dark blue to light blue, and the Copy Paste menu will pop up.

The iPhone Paste feature is "smart" enough to change alphanumeric phone numbers to pure numbers (i.e. 1-800-FLOWERS to 1-800-356-9377).

Contacts also get direct copy, so you can hold your finger down on a contact field, just like a picture in Photo, to trigger the copy pop-up menu.

Conclusion

Like the recently released Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, iPhone 3.1 doesn't provide a lot of fancy user-facing updates (we likely won't see those until Mac OS X 10.7 and iPhone 4.0 respectively). What it does is fix things that needed fixing, and fill in missing functionality that needed filling in. And, it throws in a couple small feature enhancements, just because.

Free for both iPhone and iPod touch 3.0 users (iPod touch 2.x users will still need to cough up $9.95 to pay the subscription accounting devil's dues), if iPhone 3.0 was a must-have for the sheer magnitude of its new functionality, 3.1 is a no-brainer update to make the must-have that much nicer-to-have as well.

[Thanks to everyone who contributed screenshots and descriptions for this walkthrough, especially Justin, Jeremy, and James. If you noticed we missed anything, drop us a note in the comments and we'll update as needed.]

iPhone 3.1 Beta 1 has just been released, and unlike the major new version that was iPhone 3.0, it's still unclear how many features -- compared with bug fixes -- will be added. However, enterprising developers have already discovered at least a few things we can all look forward too.

So, here's TiPb's iPhone 3.1 Beta Walkthrough, and we'll keep it updated as/if Apple releases future betas.

Home Screen

The jigglies -- what Dieter lovingly calls the little dance icons do when you hold them down long enough to make them moveable and rearrangeable -- now make the iPhone vibrate once to further indicate the change of state. Whether or not this will somehow factor in to the iPhone 3GS accessibility features is uncertain.

Voice Control

Voice Control, after holding down the Home button for several seconds, let you speak simple commands to place calls and control music. In iPhone 3.1, it will also work over Bluetooth.

The exact process isn't clear yet, but it's hard to imagine anything other than holding down the call button on a Bluetooth headset function similarly to how the Home button currently works.

Messages

After being present in iPhone 3.0 Beta 1 through Beta 4, before being stripped out in Beta 5, AT&T users will again find MMS functionality restored to the interface. However, it's not functional without hacking the carrier file, and it's unknown if it will survive until release or be stripped out again if AT&T still isn't ready for the feature to go live.

Calendar

Calendar gets a minor tweak in iPhone 3.1. Now event alerts also display the location of the event in the popup. Presumably, this is now considered important glance-able information.

Photos

Video trimming is now non-destructive. Previously, if you trimmed a video, it was automatically saved over the original, meaning you could never undo or go back to the full clip. Now, a Save As... dialog gives you the option of preserving the original and creating as many version copies as you want (an short clip to email, a longer one to share to YouTube, and the full clip to sync and bring into iMovie, for example).

Phone

Copy and Paste comes to the Phone Keypad. Just tap and hold and the input area will change from dark blue to light blue, and the Copy Paste menu will pop up.

Reportedly, the iPhone Paste feature is "smart" enough to change alphanumeric phone numbers to pure numbers (i.e. 1-800-FLOWERS to 1-800-356-9377).

When Will it Ship?

If history is any indication, iPhone 2.0 was released on July 11, 2008, and iPhone 2.1 followed some two months and 4 betas later on September 12, 2008 hot on the heels of Apple's Let's Rock introduction of the 2nd generation iPod touch. Will we have to wait for another new iPod and music event before we see 3.1?

Our guess is Apple will try to get 3.1 out earlier to fix a few of the more onerous bugs, but as always, only Jobs knows for sure...

Note on Using Beta Software

Unlike iPhone 2.0 Betas, where access seemed much more limited and leaks were few and far between, 3.1 like 3.0 seems to be on every iPhone users want-now list. Also, unlike 2.0 when many devs were seasoned pros, now Apple is touting thousands upon thousands in the program, some seemingly happy enough to enable 3.0 access for the general user base.

However, betas are intended for developers to test and report back on. They're not as stable, not as snappy, not as feature-complete and anyone trying to use them as a production OS on their main (or worse, only) device is likely to have something less than an ideal experience. People trying to use it as such may wish they could go back to iPhone 3.0 almost as much as they wished for 3.1. Think thrice before taking the plunge.

[Via Chris, Muero, WhenWillApple, and BGR. Thanks to everyone who sent in descriptions and screenshots.]