New iOS 4.2 Announced

[Holoshed]

I see that the new iTunes 10 is available for download on Apple's website, but when I have my iTunes check for updates, it says my version (9.2.1) is the current version.

Should I go ahead and download 10 or wait until it becomes available as an update through iTunes?

I know when its fully out, it will be on the apple.com/itunes page. I do not know about the updater though.

I know the page is now giving an error pointing to this page: https://swdlp.apple.com/cgi-bin/Web...w.apple.com/itunes/download&isMiniiFrameReq=N

 

[Prasius]

My take -

4.1 next week for the iphone + lesser devices - Hmm.. okies.

4.2 in November for iPad - Yay! But NOVEMBER!? That's not Autumn, thats WINTER! Gimme my iOS4!!!

iPod Shuffle - good to see the buttons back - my nephew is getting one for christmas I think.

iPod Nano looks like a great little device - I love the finger screen flipping. Don't think I'll buy one though, as my old 3rd Gen Nano is still providing fine service in the car.

iPod Touch - meh. I've got an iPhone. I can see why you might want one, and the screen and processor and cameras and everything.. but I've got an iPhone.

Apple TV - I was expecting to be underwhelmed with this as I was the first one and other types of devices - my Sony Blu-ray does streaming stuff.. and never felt the need to use it. But after watching that, I'm sold - first show rentals are considerably cheaper than my Virgin Cable on-demand service, and the real boon of the device, I'm able to stream my iTunes library and the content on my iPad and iPhone to my TV (I play all my music via my A/V system anyhow - Apple TV will let me do it in a tidier way, and mean I don't have to use my iphone as a remote control anymore!). The only thing that irritates me slightly is while the Apple TV is $99, it's £99 in the UK - which is a little cheeky; but its a price worth paying for something I'll find so useful.

iTunes 10 - Meh. They're just expected to upgrade it. Ping seems a little gimmickish to me, but I'm happy to give it a go. The only real 'improvement' I can see is the hybrid list view - but hardly ground breaking.

 

[robertlc]

Now the coverage and summary from CNET.

 

[wrecklass]

Did anyone notice the very lack luster demo of multi tasking on the iPad? He starts up a song in iPod and then switches to email and is like "and the music is still playing in the background."

Eh? So music has always been able to keep playing while you are doing other things.

So then he launches Safari and goes to a page his friend sent him a link to, and look music is still playing. Then he switches back to email. And he pauses his music from the multi tasking bar.

But he never went back to Safari. Probably because we'd all notice that the web page has to reload because the iPad doesn't have sufficient memory to keep all of these apps running. Especially Safari with multiple tabs. It can be a real memory hog.

I think what he didn't show in that demo was much more telling than what he did show. I really think the lack of memory is going to be a major show stopper on the iPad.

For instance, I use a Bluetooth head set while watching video (Youtube, Netflix, Hulu Plus). I have noticed that after a day or two the sound starts to cut in and out as I move around with the Bluetooth. What I do to fix this is shutdown the iPad and restart it. This clears up memory fragmentation, or perhaps some memory leaks.

So the iPad has memory management problems with single tasked apps. I suspect the problem is going to be much worse when we have Multi-tasking.

 

[robertlc]

Yeah, it did seem that it was the most basic of demos. If multitasking was supposed to be this big feature they added, you'd think they would have done a major multitasking demo, not just "oh look, I'm doing this now and music is playing."

 

[robertlc]

Also, looks like the multitasking icon will occupy one of the six spots on the dock and the dock will be able to appear when you need to switch and hide when not being used.

 

[Purpleorchid]

What would have been cool is if he demoed multitasking of the Epic Games demo and a streaming video....switching back and forth.

 

[Tinman]

I think multi-tasking will be fine on the iPad. I have an iPhone 3GS (and now iPhone 4) and it can multi-task OK. Heck with it jailbroken I ran GPS apps just fine in the background--and this was before 4.x so the app was fully running in the background, not like how it works now with native operation. The iPad has the same amount of RAM as the 3GS but its processor is faster.

And actually what I want more than multi-tasking on my iPad is saved state. Most of the apps I use don't need to do anything in the background. But if I am, say, ready USA Today on my iPad, then remember I need to send a quick email, I would like to come back to USA Today where I left off and not have it start from the main page again. So having it save its state consumes no CPU cycles yet accomplishes what I really am looking for. I can think of many apps that need this more than background operation.

What I DO want multitasking for are audio apps, such as streaming radio.... These apps are not really CPU intensive so I can't see them causing too much impact on performance.



Michael

 

[roses]

Cool stuff !

 

[Seadog]

I saw something that said wireless printing was to be part of the next OS.

 

[Tinman]

I saw something that said wireless printing was to be part of the next OS.

Yes it sure will be! And you will see what is printing in the task list, so you can view what is being printed, or even cancel a print job. Pretty sweet.



Michael

 

[gentlefury]

My take -

4.1 next week for the iphone + lesser devices - Hmm.. okies.

4.2 in November for iPad - Yay! But NOVEMBER!? That's not Autumn, thats WINTER! Gimme my iOS4!!!

iPod Shuffle - good to see the buttons back - my nephew is getting one for christmas I think.

iPod Nano looks like a great little device - I love the finger screen flipping. Don't think I'll buy one though, as my old 3rd Gen Nano is still providing fine service in the car.

iPod Touch - meh. I've got an iPhone. I can see why you might want one, and the screen and processor and cameras and everything.. but I've got an iPhone.

Apple TV - I was expecting to be underwhelmed with this as I was the first one and other types of devices - my Sony Blu-ray does streaming stuff.. and never felt the need to use it. But after watching that, I'm sold - first show rentals are considerably cheaper than my Virgin Cable on-demand service, and the real boon of the device, I'm able to stream my iTunes library and the content on my iPad and iPhone to my TV (I play all my music via my A/V system anyhow - Apple TV will let me do it in a tidier way, and mean I don't have to use my iphone as a remote control anymore!). The only thing that irritates me slightly is while the Apple TV is $99, it's £99 in the UK - which is a little cheeky; but its a price worth paying for something I'll find so useful.

iTunes 10 - Meh. They're just expected to upgrade it. Ping seems a little gimmickish to me, but I'm happy to give it a go. The only real 'improvement' I can see is the hybrid list view - but hardly ground breaking.

Apple TV looked really cool...he was showing it and I was like...ok cool....not really for me...but when he showed the airplay thing and then the price that was it....sold! Now I just have to get a new TV with HDMI, which I plan on doing in the next year or so.

btw, I love that Chris Martin said "well f**k it" on Steves first live stream!!! Classic!

 

[Prasius]

Also, looks like the multitasking icon will occupy one of the six spots on the dock and the dock will be able to appear when you need to switch and hide when not being used.

I think you might have misunderstood what you saw, the multitasking bar on iOS4 comes up with a double click of the home key. (at least on the iPhone - I expect the iPad to be the same).

 

[whoknowme]

hear this new just now.

 

[robertlc]

Also, looks like the multitasking icon will occupy one of the six spots on the dock and the dock will be able to appear when you need to switch and hide when not being used.

I think you might have misunderstood what you saw, the multitasking bar on iOS4 comes up with a double click of the home key. (at least on the iPhone - I expect the iPad to be the same).

Chances are I did misunderstand something. I must have missed when he gave a clear demonstration of the multitasking. From the quick glances I got of the screen, that's just how it appeared to me.

We'll figure it out when we get it.