Apple on Wednesday released iOS 4.3 for the iPhone , iPod tactile sensation , and iPad . Available first as adeveloper beta almost two months ago , the update is now available to all users for costless via iTunes . It fetch a handful of new features to Apple ’s mobile devices include AirPlay for all third - company apps and personal hotspot support .
Headlining the Io 4.3 update is backing for AirPlay across all apps . This feature of speech first appear in iOS 4.2 , countenance Apple ’s Io apps to stream audio , TV , and photo slideshows to a second - genesis Apple TV . Apple unfold up the feature in Io 4.3 , which means developer of media apps like Pandora are free to update their product , if they choose , and volunteer AirPlay feature to users .
iOS 4.3 also brings support for creating a personal hot spot , another increasingly democratic characteristic among other smartphones and one thatappeared first in the Verizon iPhone 4 . This feature permit your iPhone 4 ( and only the iPhone 4 ; grim , owners of any premature models ) to act as a portable Wi - Fi router for up to five devices , power by the twist ’s wireless data link ( you’re able to tie in up to three devices via Wi - Fi , three via Bluetooth , and one with a USB cable ) . You ’ll need a qualifying datum plan from your carrier and any necessary hotspot or tethering alternative to enable this feature .
In the U.S. , for example , AT&T requires that users have its $ 25 2 GB DataPro plan and $ 20 hot spot choice , which adds tot a 2 GB bucket of data for hot spot - associate gadget . If users outmatch that initial 2 GB with hotspot tethering , they can dip into their iPhone ’s existing 2 GB data bucket before having to pay overage charges . alas , AT&T substance abuser who kept their straight-out datum plan when upgrading to an iPhone 4 would have to tack to the DataPro plan in fiat to utilize tethering . Verizon also take into account customers to add the hotspot choice for $ 20 on top of their $ 30 unlimited data plans , though the carrier wave only allows a 2 GB data margin for hot spot - tethered devices before superannuated bearing of $ 20 per gigabyte plain in .
iTunes Home Sharing , a surprise Io 4.3 addition that Steve Jobs announce at Apple ’s iPad 2 event last week , allow iPhone , iPod touch , and iPad exploiter to stream any of their iTunes medium from a Mac or personal computer on the same Wi - Fi meshwork . It ’s not an over - the - air media sync solution , however , like the Home Sharing feature Apple total to iTunes 9 to make it easier to keep iTunes libraries on multiple estimator in sync . If your iOS 4.3 twist depart your home plate Wi - Fi connection , you wo n’t be able-bodied to pour iTunes media from your Mac or PC .
Apple claim to have made Safari ’s JavaScript performance up to twice as tight in iOS 4.3 . Sites with interactive features , or rich Web apps like Gmail , should feel noticeably snappier . We used the Sunspider JavaScript carrying out test to compare a first - generation iPad and an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.1 and iOS 4.3 , and the resultant role were dramatic .
Apple also seems to have yield to user unrest after change the behavior of the iPad ’s side switch . Since the iPad shipped almost a class ago , its side switch acted as a a display rotation lock . When Applereleased iOS 4.2last November , it changed the switch from a rotation lock to a mute switch , without even bid an option to interchange it back . Under iOS 4.3 , the switch will still default to muting audio , but Apple added a young preference to the preferences app to let user turn on the gyration curl behavior instead .
A duet of minor features snuck into iOS 4.3 , including the ability to enable Push Notifications for Ping River activity . But while Apple ’s going notes state that iOS 4.3 allows us to station to Ping and “ like ” songs from the iPod app ’s now playing screen , we can not regain this feature on either the iPhone or iPad . Also young is a preference to define how many time an samarium alert is repeated , as well as a group discussion dialing choice to add a pause for entering a passcode .
Missing from iOS 4.3 , however , are the new multitouch gesture that Apple ask developers to test on the iPad during the beta period . gesture like four- and five - digit swipes could switch between apps and reveal the multitasking bar , and a pinch could exit an app and come back you to the Home Screen . With the 2d iOS 4.3 beta , however , Apple clarified thatthese features were only for testingand would not ship to consumers in the terminal version . Obviously , they could devolve in a future iOS update or upgrade , but Apple has n’t stated any plans .
As with most OS updates , Apple has also fixed a number of security issues with Io 4.3 . Detailed inthis financial support papers , Io 4.3 bring in quite a few fixes to apps and components across the board , include Safari , the WebKit engine that power Safari , Wi - Fi and web connectivity , image processing , and more . Apple also release iPhone Configuration Utility 3.3 forMacandWindows , though details on what ’s new are nowhere to be found . presumptively , the unexampled version adds sustenance for managing devices that endure iOS 4.3 .
iOS 4.3 is available now as a free update in iTunes for the iPad , iPhone 3GS , the GSM iPhone 4 , and third- and fourth - generation iPod touch . As for the Verizon iPhone 4 , it runs a custom version of iOS 4.2.6 that includes some features like hotspot support . Comments from an Apple voice to Ars Technica at theiPad 2 eventsuggest that it might take a little while for Verizon ’s iPhone 4 to converge with the same iOS version as Apple ’s other mobile gimmick .
Updated at 10:20 a.m. PT to add more information on Ping features and preferences in preferences . update at 11:00 a.m. PT with info on the security update in iOS 4.3 . update at 11:41 a.m. PT to clarify that the personal hotspot feature is only keep going by the iPhone 4 . update at 1:09 p.m. PT to add up the iPhone Configuration Utility update and clarification on the seemingly absent ‘ post to Ping ’ feature film .
