The ability to run multiple apps , folder for organizing your fluid program , and Mail improvements launch the major changes coming in the next translation of the iPhone operating system . Apple gave a sneak peep Thursday at a developer preview of iPhone OS 4.0 , which is coming later this summer .
unveil during apress eventat Apple ’s Cupertino headquarters , the updated o offer more than 1500 fresh program computer programing interfaces ( genus Apis ) for developers in iPhone 4.0 . According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs , the new APIs allow developers access features like the iPhone ’s calendar , pic library , video - camera data , and more . App Almighty can also take advantage of OS ex feature article like Quick Look , in - app SMS , and more . Plus , there are more 2000 APIs for computer hardware - speed math functions in the iPhone 4.0 O .
The iPhone 4.0 update will offer more than 100 new substance abuser lineament , Steve Jobs say .
The iPhone 4.0 update will offer more than 100 new user features, Steve Jobs says.
In addition , iPhone 4.0 boasts more than 100 new substance abuser features , such as playlist creation , 5x digital zoom in the camera app , tap - to - focus for video , machine photo - geotagging , the gain of Places functionality , the ability to alter the Home screen wallpaper , ameliorate spell - checking , and musical accompaniment for Bluetooth keyboards . Many of the features lend are already usable on the iPad , which currently draw iPhone OS 3.2 .
The o update , which is useable as a developer make now for app makers , will arrive in consumers ’ hands in the summertime . Not all devices will be able to reap all the benefit of iPhone 4.0 . owner of the iPhone 3GS and third - generation iPod touch should be able-bodied to run all the feature , but iPhone 3 G and 2nd - generation iPod feeling owner will only support some of the features — for instance , those devices will not be able to employ the multitasking feature of speech that foreground the update .
“ The iPhone 3GS and third - coevals iPod mite make up the majority ” of the mobile equipment Apple has sold , Jobs told reporters at Thursday ’s upshot . “ And older twist will gain many of these features , just not all of them . ”
You’ll be able to stash apps in folders in iPhone 4.0
As for Apple ’s newest gimmick , the iPad , Jobs pronounce that iPhone 4.0 will come on the tablet twist sometime this fall .
While Apple administrator offered an overview of some of the changes planned for the iPhone OS , they spent most of Thursday ’s display focusing on seven “ tentpole ” features that will be part of iPhone 4.0 .
Multitasking
Easily one of the most predict additions to the group O , multitasking will be a part of the iPhone 4.0 update . The feature is already offer up on rival mobile platforms — most notably , Google ’s Android OS — but Jobs consider Apple has done a honest job follow up multitasking capabilities .
“ We were n’t the first to this company , but we ’re going to be the best , just like [ with ] copy - and - pate , ” said Jobs , advert to the feature introduced in last twelvemonth ’s iPhone 3.0 update .
so as to swap applications , users double - get across the Home button which cite a sorrel - similar airstrip showing all run applications programme ; tap on an app to interchange to it . If you ’re play a biz , it will hesitate when you shift , and you ’ll be able-bodied to resume in good order where you leave alone off when you swop back .
By default , that docking facility shows you four track applications , but if you have more running at one clock time , you’re able to swipe left to see the rest of them .
Apple contends that multitasking on most fluid devices can hinder carrying into action of the app running in the foreground while draining shelling life . “ We ’ve figured out how to do it and obviate those thing , ” Jobs suppose .
Specifically , Apple attend at existing iPhone program program in the App Store and tried to identify what military service are needed in the desktop , according to aged vice chairman of iPhone software Scott Forstall . Apple then write its own code to implement those services , which it has made available to third - company developer as APIs . That way , the organization is responsible for maintain battery life and performance , rather than having each additional app try out and image it out .
Apple will provide background APIs in seven area :
Folders
You ’ll be able-bodied to stash apps in folder in iPhone 4.0
To tackle the problem of having too many apps on your speech sound , Apple is premise Folders in the iPhone 4.0 update . “ As hoi polloi are downloading more and more apps , they have to keep flicking from Sir Frederick Handley Page to page , ” Jobs said . “ They desire a agency to devise [ apps ] and encounter them , and Folders fits the flyer . ”
To evidence , Jobs depict off a Folders feature for the iPhone ’s Home screen , allowing substance abuser to group applications . When you ’re redact your Home screen , you’re able to drag one app on top of another app to automatically create a folder . The iPhone mechanically names pamphlet establish on the categories of the apps .
So , for deterrent example , you could make a Games booklet merely by dropping one game on top of another . The brochure icon displays a small set of roofing tile show you which apps are privileged , and you’re able to drag the booklet anywhere on the Home screen , just like an app icon .
There ’s no limit to the turn of the folders you’re able to have ; it ’s even potential to put one in the iPhone ’s bob . The add-on of folder means the iPhone can allow you see more than 2000 apps at a fourth dimension . presently , the iPhone ’s 11 Home screens and dock let you see only 180 apps ( though in either instance , you may load as many as place allows and launch them via Spotlight ) .
In a move take over from the iPad , iPhone 4.0 also lets you change the background wallpaper on your iPhone ’s base screen — this can either be the same as the lock concealment ’s wallpaper or an entirely unlike prototype .
Apple has overhauled the Mail program for iPhone 4.0 , adding support for a identification number of features , including a unified inbox that allows you to see all incoming mail from multiple story . you’re able to also promptly leap between inboxes for multiple invoice . In addition , Mail also now supports more than one Exchange account at a sentence , and you could also organize by thread .
Attachments are enhance as well : you’re able to now tap files attach to east - mail messages to open them in a separate app , including third - party apps .
iBooks on iPhone
In another borrowed feature from the iPad , Apple will make its iBooks e - reader available to the iPhone in iPhone O 4.0 . The iPhone offering will be a belittled version of the iPad app , but it admit for the same features , including purchasing from Apple ’s iBookstore . And you ’ll also be able-bodied to synchronize your berth and bookmarks between multiple devices — will off reading a book on your iPad , and you’re able to start reading it in the same place on your iPhone .
Enterprise features
iPhone 4.0 has add up raw features for stage business users . At the top of the list is right data point protection : all e - mail , include affixation , can be encrypt with your PIN codification . And Apple will make encoding APIs available to third - party developer , allowing them to do the same with datum hive away in their apps .
Apple also contrive to roll out advance for mobile equipment direction for companies that deploy large numbers of iPhones . ( Forstall notice on Thursday that more 80 percentage of Fortune 100 company apply iPhones in some capacitance . ) company can now wirelessly distribute program anywhere in the world from their own server . In addition , there ’s the aforementioned documentation for multiple Exchange accounts , and support for Exchange Server 2010 . Plus , Apple is support SSL VPN for both Juniper and Cisco .
Game Center
Billed as a “ developer trailer ” in iPhone bone 4 , Apple announced a societal - play connection called Game Center , which seems poised to compete with services such as Xbox Live and the PlayStation connection . You ’ll be able-bodied to tempt supporter , participate in online matchmaking , compete in leaderboards , take in achievements , and more . While available first to developer — presumptively so they can desegregate the functionality in their apps — Game Center will roll out to terminate users later this year .
iAd
As was widely rumored , Apple announce its own built - in publicizing system for the iPhone OS , iAd . Developers to comprise ads into their practical program and utilize both video and interactive constituent without taking users out of the current program . And the organization is built all on HTML5 .
update at 11:05 PT with information on availability and compatibility . update at 2:05 p.m. PT with more information throughout the story .
