Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
As it has in previous years , Apple has quickly follow up a major iOS going with a item - one button that call not only to fix undischarged bugs , but also to bring raw and wondrous features to the company ’s mobile operating organisation . And this time around , those enhancements are scarce inconsequential : among other things they include a blade novel societal connection ( Apple ’s irregular to launching in the last hebdomad ) , slick new photographic camera functionality , and a handful of smaller tweaks that you might not have notice .
Like iOS 4 before it , 4.1 is compatible with the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 , as well as the second- , third- , and fourth- generation iPod touch models . Unfortunately , the iPhone 3 G is the black sheep of the family here , as it only getssomeof the feature article of the new package . And the iPad remains out in the cold until Io 4.2 finally impart these features , along with the rest of iOS 4 ’s capabilities , to Apple ’s pad of paper in November .
Game on
Game Center lets you play games with your friends or — if you have no friend , like me — get matched up against stranger .
It ’s unquestionably the biggest new plus in iOS 4.1 : a make new built - in app that capitalizes on the success of gaming on Apple ’s roving gadget .
Game Centeris Apple ’s answer to Microsoft ’s Xbox Live and Sony ’s PlayStation connection , a social service that helps connect gamers with their friend , earn achievement , and find opponent online . When you first establish the app , it will request you to confirm a few profile item and pick a username ; Game Center employ your Apple ID to lumber you in , but you may add together multiple einsteinium - ring armour address so your friends can easily find you ( you ’ll have to control each address by get through a link that Apple send you ) .
Game Center lets you play games with your friends or—if you have no friends, like me—get matched up against strangers.
Once you ’ve register your accounting , the app lets you look at your list of friends and their various statuses , browse a listing of Game Center game , and determine your own condition . Apple says you ’ll be able to download Game Center - adequate to plot directly from the app , as well as start academic session , but I was n’t able-bodied to check these out due to a lack of Game Center - compatible title uncommitted prior to the computer software ’s official expiration .
Game Center will alert you with an e - ring armour , a badge on its icon , a pop - up notice , anda trumpet sound when someone request to be your booster ( hey , it ’s anevent , after all ) . In case you ’re someplace that you ’d rather not have the latter two going off willy - nilly , you’re able to deactivate them under setting - > Notifications - > Game Center . you could always view your list of spectacular acquaintance requests in Game Center , and take or reject them as you wish .
You ’ll also be able to earn achievements from games and look at leaderboards to see how you compare to your admirer and rivals . And you may also be auto - matched with strangers if none of your Friend are useable for a friction match .
To activate the iPhone 4’s HDR photo feature, just tap the button in the Cameras app.
It ’s a little early to see how Game Center will play out , if you ’ll excuse the expression , as we ’ll necessitate to wait and see how developers desegregate it into their titles . But apply that the iPhone , iPad , and especially iPod spot have become astonishingly popular gambling devices , it makes sense for Apple to ramp up an base to encourage the marketplace .
There ’s one caveat , however : not all iOS devices will get Game Center . Only the iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4 , and second- , third- , and fourth - generation iPod touches are eligible at nowadays . Given that neither the original iPhone or iPod touch supports iOS 4 , it ’s mainly the iPhone 3 thousand that ’s getting left out in the frigidness .
For more , check out what my colleague Chris Holt has had to say about the grandness of Game Center elsewhere on the site .
If you want to keep non-HDR versions of the photos you snap, flip this switch in Settings -> Photos.
Home on the dynamic range
To activate the iPhone 4 ’s HDR exposure feature , just tap the button in the Cameras app .
Another major melioration that Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted duringlast week ’s unveiling of Io 4.1is support for high-pitched active range picture . This new feature of speech come along to be limited to the iPhone 4 , no surprise give that the phone ’s camera is the most up to among all of Apple ’s roving devices .
When you enable HDR and take a picture , the photographic camera actually snaps three video : a picture at normal photograph , an underexposed picture , and an overexposed ikon . It then combines all three of these images into a single photo , which can often yield startlingly impressive — though sometimes insubstantial - take care — look-alike .
Apple’s new music-focused social network, Ping, is now part and parcel of the iTunes app.
If you require to keep non - HDR variation of the picture you click , switch this shift in preferences - > exposure .
In 4.1 , you activate the feature of speech by tip the HDR button , which sits in between the flash control and the front / rearward camera on-off switch — activating HDR automatically switches the split second off . You ’ll also be prompted as to whether or not you want to keep the normal interlingual rendition of the photograph in plus to the HDR ( you could also toggle this on and off in preferences - > Photos ) .
Elsewhere on the web site , our digital photo expert extraordinaire Heather Kellygives the skinny on HDRand what it means for iPhone photos .
You can now rent TV shows on your iOS device through the iTunes app.
Tune in
Apple ’s new medicine - focalise social web , Ping , is now part and portion of the iTunes app .
iOS 4.1 add a yoke of updates to the iTunes app , though if you ’re be given iOS 4 right now , you ’ll already have one of them : the inclusion of Ping . Apple ’s new music - focused social net go far last workweek as part of iTunes 10 , and Apple quietly update the iPhone and iPod touch versions of the app to match ( Ping is not yet uncommitted on the iPad , however , which will have to wait until iOS 4.2 get in in November ) .
The 2nd improvement in iTunes isthe plus of TV show rental . Apple ’s tender rental of episodes from a few sources , include Fox , ABC , and a fistful of others . However , Apple ’s squirreled aside letting a second , so it might not be obvious at first blush how you find them .
The Photos app now lets you upload in HD to both YouTube and MobileMe.
you’re able to now rent TV shows on your iOS equipment through the iTunes app .
In the iTunes app , you demand to chit-chat the Videos section , which is either accessible via the toolbar at the bottom or by tap the More button . Then , tap the TV Shows header at the top and clean a show that ’s rentable — lease ’s say the BBC ’s foresightful - runningDoctor Who , for example .
Scrolling down to the list of episodes will show that the familiar Buy buttons have disappear — tapping any episode will play a preview ; to actually pull it , you have todouble - tapto horizon info for that episode . Mark this one down as a poor interface alternative on Cupertino ’s part .
Restrictions now includes the ability to deactivate FaceTime and multiplayer games (via Game Center).
Keep in mind , however , that if you rent a TV episode on your iPhone 4 or fourth - generation iPod touch and and then endeavor to transplant it to your Mac or PC , you ’ll run into a wall of Apple ’s construction . In addition , those two models are also the only iOS devices that support HD rentals .
High definition, please
The Photos app now allow you upload in HD to both YouTube and MobileMe .
The iPhone 4 ’s tv camera is capable of shooting high - definition video at 720p , but up until Io 4.1 the only mode to get that video off your gimmick at full quality was to transport it via USB to your Mac or PC or trust on third - company apps .
Now , users will be capable to upload their videos in HD to either YouTube or Apple ’s MobileMe service right from the iPhone ’s Photos app . you may still opt to upload the standard definition telecasting if you opt — in fact you ’re call for to if you ’re using 3 gram since HD uploads demand a Wi - Fi joining .
The Calendar app is showing its softer side with a more pastel palette.
Squashing bugs
iOS 4.1 is n’t just about summate lineament , though — it ’s also about swat a span of annoying bugs . principal among those is an event reported by many users aboutthe iPhone 4 ’s proximity sensing element . That ’s the little piece of music of hardware that lives just above the earphone ’s earpiece which detect when you hold the phone up to your nerve during a call and deactivates the touchscreen to prevent accidental input .
However , a hemipterous insect in the late version of the iOS meant that the touch screen did n’t always get deactivated right , run to people accidentally ending phone calls or falling prey to the ever - unfortunate “ face - dialing . ”
Apple also sound out that iOS 4.1 will touch on another litigious problem : poor functioning on the iPhone 3G. The two - twelvemonth - old model of the iPhone has already bring the short destruction of the stick with iOS 4 , not receiving some of its much touted advancements such as multitasking . But boring and unreliable performance have only made the experience all the more afflictive . Macworld.com executive editor program Philip Michaels described iOS 4 on the iPhone 3 one thousand as running “ like a two - plurality - a - day smoking compartment after go up a few flights of step . ”
iOS 4.1 , for what it ’s worth , seems to better the job in most respects , but it still ca n’t compensate for running on hardware that is a circumstances less powerful than what the current crop of Apple ’s equipment offer .
Bits and bobs
Apple ’s also admit a few other enhancement and changes in iOS 4.1 that obviously did n’t virtue screen prison term during Jobs ’s presentation last week . Most are smaller improvements , but many of them will be welcome tweaks . Here ’s the rundown of what I ’ve found so far :
Long in the tooth : Despite supporting Bluetooth audio via A2DP since iPhone 3.0 , remote control wireless use have been circumscribe to Play / Pause and volume adjustments . My colleague Dan Frakes confirms that iPhone 4.1 finally play the whole kit - and - bunch of Bluetooth ’s AVRCP communications protocol , tolerate you to jump to the next or previous caterpillar tread using your Bluetooth audio frequency accessory .
Restrictions now includes the ability to deactivate FaceTime and multiplayer games ( via Game Center ) .
Parent maw : In addition to the usual line - up of maternal controls under configurations - > General - > Restrictions , Apple ’s added a few extras in this update . Parents can now also disable FaceTime and Game Center ’s Multi Player Games feature .
Spelling is optional : For those who do n’t care to see their writing cross in squiggly cerise lines , you may now inactivate iOS 4 ’s spell check under options - > General - > Keyboards .
The International : iOS 4.1 add one new software keyboard layout — Cherokee — but also lose the calendar data formatting for the Republic of China , for some mysterious reason .
The Calendar app is showing its soft side with a more pastel palette .
Pretty colour : The Calendar app has drop the lustrous gloss for different calendars and event , replacing them with somewhat more pastel tints .
course of instruction attendance : If you do n’t have any iTunes atomic number 92 subject matter in your iPod app , you’re able to bound straight to the iTunes atomic number 92 surgical incision of the iTunes Store by tapping on a little arrow icon that will be displayed .
intimate confront : you may also now add FaceTime contacts as Favorites in the iPhone ’s telephone set app . bug Add to Favorites in any contact record or the Plus push button on the Favorites screen and pick a FaceTime - enabled contact : if it ’s a phone number ( as opposed to an e - mail ) , you ’ll be prompted to pick whether you require it to be a Voice Call or FaceTime contact .
Overall , iOS 4.1 is a suitable update that pack both novel capabilities as well as improvement to exist features — and all for gratuitous , too . With the performance improvements , even iPhone 3 GB user will find something to care in 4.1 . As with most of Apple ’s iOS updates , there ’s somewhat much no reasonnotto upgrade to the in style version , specially if your gimmick of choice is an iPhone 4 or 3GS .
