iOS 4.2 coming soon for iPad... and iPhone

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

If Steve Jobs announced that iOS 4.2 would be coming to iPhone during his keynote a the special music event yesterday, I missed it, but that's what Apple.com's new preview page says:

Look for iOS 4.2 coming in November for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.1

(That footnote reads "not compatible with all models" so likely iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 miss out again).

What will distinguish iOS 4.2 on iPhone from iOS 4.1? Only a few things leap out at me:

  • Wireless printing, so we can shoot docs from our iOS device to a receptive paper printer. (Not word on compatibility requirements yet though).
  • AirPlay, which takes AirTunes to another level with streaming video and pictures, and should let us beam content from iPhone or iPod touch to the new Apple TV. (Perfect to take a movie to friends or family).
  • Find text on web page, finally. In Safari, easily search for and highlight specific words and phrases.

Most importantly, does this mean we'll finally see Grand Unification of iOS in our lifetimes? Have the forces of fracture failed? Developers will hopefully find out soon. Consumers get it in November.

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

23 Comments
  • Does airplay allow us to stream music pictures and video from a computer to an iPhone?
  • Go to 19:15 on the keynote. It's there. iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch will all get 4.2.
  • That's exciting, can't wait for the beta, Printing was my one of my last big missing features, now all they need to do is make a space for community storage for all apps and the ability to attached files to websites through it.
  • Great new features! My iPad will be happy. But I'd rather miss out on these features in exchange for getting back some speed and reliability on my 3G!
  • +1 attach files to websites
  • @Jason: That is what I am interested in. I have a Mac, an iPad, an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3G. I would love to be able to have some of these devices sitting in different rooms of my house and have them all playing music from the Mac.
  • I, too, am waiting for iPhone printing. Steve's announcement, however, made me assume printing was coming to iPad only. Can anyone confirm?
  • What happens with old AppleTVs? At $99 an upgrade is reasonable - but are they just too old hardware wise to run the new iOS?
  • What happened to Face time's ability to call an email address? 4.1? 4.2?
  • @Rob look into a program for your Mac called airfoil. It's like 20 bucks and they have a free app. It let's you stream any audio from for computer to any device running the free app or another computer running the program. It also streams to airport express and apple tv. Only audio though.
  • If I have the new itv and iPhone 4 can I stream itv media to iPhone over 3G or just local wifi ?or not at all. is steaming bidirectional
  • @Rob you want wireless music?
    Sonos.com
  • I can attest to Sonos...unbelievable system.
  • @Rene, Steve said November for 4.2.
    @Al, I don't recall them saying. I'm guessing 4.1 though. The new iPod Touch will have Facetime, it doesn't have 3g, and it is going to be released next week.
    @Rob, Airfoil works good for that. However, one caveat I came across last I used it. If you are trying to stream the audio portion of a video (say you're playing a video on your computer in iTunes, but streaming the audio elsewhere in the house for when you are walking around doing things), the audio used to be delayed about 2 seconds in comparison to the video. I don't know if that was ever changed (they said it was an issue with the iTunes API).
  • What? No change in iphone's video frame rate? That is lame. I wish we could have 60 fps instead of 30 fps to truly appreciate iphone's HD recording
  • It's at 19:23 on the Apple Special Event Podcast feed version of the Keynote. He doesn't "say" it but it's on the screen behind him.
  • Ok I lied, he does say it too, wasn't paying attention to the audio the first time, was just watching for it to come on the screen
  • He definitely said it was going to be available for all three devices.
    At the very end of the 4.2 presentation, he said "when is iOS 4.2 coming out? it's coming out in November for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch' and it was definitely up on the big screen behind him.
    Just sayin'.
  • I'm excited for Nike+ heart rate monitor support coming in iOS 4.2.
  • I have Airfoil, and while it is great for streaming music, I do not like having to exit out of the app to change what I am listening to, or having to go back to the computer.
    I want an Apple Remote app that actually funnels the music thru it.
  • @ Rene: "(Perfect to take a movie to friends or family)."
    I'm not sure that you would be able to show any movie you bought on any Apple TV. There might be some kind of limitation, like correlating the purchaser's account with the Apple TV's iTunes account. Then again, if you've actually bought the movie or TV show, you really should be able to show it anywhere, like with DVD/BD.
  • @jason
    Get the Mecanto app in the app store. It's a near perfect way to stream your music collection to your phone.
    I say near perfect because they still haven't added multitasking, which kind of sucks.
  • Not sure if many of you are aware but there good printing apps for iPad and iPhone. Printshare and hpiprint to name a few. They do both photos web pages and documents.