Tag: IOS 4.2 »

The long wait is finally over as Apple has officially announced that iOS 4.2 will be available for the iPod, iPhone and iPad today at 10am PST, 1pm EST. The new update brings features such as folders, multitasking and a unified inbox to the iPad, as well as AirPlay and AirPrint to all devices. For a full rundown of all the new features make sure to check out the tutorials we posted last week.

Specifically in relation to the iPad, Apple head honcho Steve Jobs said “iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season. Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”

One of the less publicized but still incredibly important features is the fact that Apple is extending the Find My Phone service to all users for free. The feature, which allows users to track down lost iOS devices remotely, was previously restricted to MobileMe subscribers. The feature is great for those afraid of losing their device and having sensitive data exposed to the world, as Find My Phone allows you to locate your device on a map, lock it remotely and even wipe data if it's been compromised. Granted, most of us don't really need such a service, but it still makes our lives feel just a little more like a James Bond film, and that's always awesome.

At any rate, we're mere hours away from Apple's next big major operating system update! How excited are you? Are you planning a party to have all your friends come over and you'll all eat snacks and download the update together? We'll bring the dip, but if Susan makes that awful casserole again we're totally leaving right away and will just keep running 4.1 until we get home.

[via MacRumors and Apple]

Though most of us poor schmucks continue to wait around for Apple to release iOS 4.2 there are some media types who have had access to the update for a while now and have spent some quality time with the new tech. Thankfully, our friends over at TiPb have gone ahead and created a couple of videos to walk us through the new features that 4.2 will bring to the iPad and iPhone.

The iPad video goes in depth on a lot of new features, including AirPlay integration and multitasking. We're also happy that TiPb dove into the back-end a bit, showing off the new settings and other under the hood changes you might not have noticed had they not been featured in the video. Of course the iPad is also getting a few enhancements that have been on the iPhone for a while now, including Game Center and organizing apps into folders. While Apple's folder system isn't the most elegant solution in the world, it's still very space-saving and helpful to those who thrive on organizing their life.

The iPhone video is a bit shorter as iOS 4.2 is not quite as weighty of a change for Apple's smaller device. Some major inclusions are the introduction of MobileMe, as well as how to get to the volume and AirPlay controls via swiping the multitasking dock. There's also mention of AirPrint, though it is rumored this feature may be dropped or altered before iOS 4.2 actually launches. There are also a number of other small changes and improvements you may not have known about before.

So feel free to point your peepers at the video for your relevant iOS device(s) and prepare to amaze your friends when you're navigating the new system like a pro on launch day while they're still trying to figure out how to adjust screen brightness. For at least a brief time you can feel completely confident in the fact that you are better than them.

[via TiPb]

Get ready for the mandatory update message next time you turn on iTunes as Apple has released version 10.1 into the wild. This isn't your garden-variety new version though, as iTunes 10.1 introduces support for iOS 4.2 and some of its sexy new features.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of iTunes 10.1 is the fact that it includes AirPlay support, which is kind of a big deal. Now users will be able to download and start a movie or TV show in iTunes on and then push it over to their Apple TV via AirPlay. Of course this is contingent upon actually having Apple TV, but for those that do it's a great way to watch your video content without messy cables or extra time hooking stuff up.

AirPlay support landing in iTunes also pushes web-based video content one step closer towards killing traditional cable and satellite television models. As popular shows and movies appear online with generally lower prices than standard cable and satellite packages more and more folks are thinking about "cutting the cable" and moving to purely web-based consumption. What's held them back until now has been the issue of trickier tech for non-savvy folks, but when you can start a show on your computer or iOS device and then instantly send it to your TV that takes out a lot of the fear. Granted, there are still some other issues to work out such as the amount of content available and general questions about reliability, but you have to walk before you can run.

iTunes 10.1 is available now and will likely show up next time you boot up iTunes or your computer does a sweep for new Apple-related software. If you absolutely can't wait any longer you can also head over to the iTunes page and download it from there. Also take heart that this likely means iOS 4.2 should be just about ready for launch, but then we've been holding our breath so long we're about to turn blue.

[via EndGadget]

Members of the Apple Developer Program now have the option to download and install the preliminary beta of the much-hyped iOS 4.2 by Apple for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. MacStories is reporting that the download weighs in at 514MB for iPad and 617MB for iPhone 4.

iOS 4.2 for iPad includes a number of features already built, optimized and released for the iPhone, including multitasking, folders support and unified mail inboxes. In addition, the Game Center application is now present, allowing users to challenge and compete against their friends or anyone else who has a free Game Center account. New features not seen before on any devices include the ability to print photos, web pages, documents and more to a printer shared on the wireless network, and AirPlay, a free service that allows the streaming of video, music and photos from the iPad to the newly-updated Apple TV. Furthermore, the update includes the ability to search for text on web pages and features a variety of updates with regards to enterprise support, providing businesses with the ability to "take advantage of stronger security features, new device management capabilities, and improved enterprise integration." (Apple, Inc.)

As is evident from a number of screenshots from MacStories, iPad folders will support up to 20 applications, and a brightness control slide bar can be accessed via the iPad's home button for applications that don't integrate it themselves. Apple have also reportedly changed the purpose of the switch on the iPad that serves as a rotation lock to a mute switch, like on the iPhone. The rotation lock button is now accessible through the multitasking bar.

Apple usually releases around five betas followed by Golden Master (GM) version before rolling out the update publicly to all users, in an effort to iron out bugs and improve overall efficiency. iOS 4.2 is scheduled to be released publicly sometime in November.

[Image courtesy of Apple]

We are family, right? Right?!

On This Episode:

Carter, Jeff, and Michelle talk about Apple's September 1st event. We discuss the iPod touch 4G's new additions, what iOS 4.2 could do for the iPad in regards to unifying it with the current line of iOS updates, and the potential of the new iPod nano as an iOS device.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Michelle Lopez, iCasual Report

Guest: Jeff Scott, 148Apps

Music:

"beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)" by The Eternal

Where To Listen:

Click Here to Subscribe in iTunes:

Click Here to Subscribe via RSS.

Listen on WRGT Radio every Friday at 4pm Central

Listen Here: [powerpress]

The event of the day started out with Steve Jobs introducing his "partner in crime," Steve Wozniak, who was in the audience. After a quick welcome, Steve Jobs started with a recap of new Apple Store retail locations including Paris, China, and London. The London store marked the 300th Apple Store and they are now in 10 countries. The foot traffic volume is amazing. Apple now sees on some days over a million total visitors combined coming through their stores. Another interesting stat -- over 50% of Macs sold in Apple Stores are still to new Mac users, aka Switchers. A stat that has amazingly held for years.

120 million potential Angry Birds players.
Next up for the day is a recap on how iOS is doing. Steve took pride in noting that there are over 230,000 new iOS activations per day. This does not include upgrades. This goes well over and above the Google quoted 160,000 Android devices activated every day. That brings us up to a total of over 120,000,000 active iOS devices. That's a staggering number for a new platform that is not even 4 years old.

How about some stats on apps? There have been over 6.5 billion apps downloaded so far. That's over 200 downloaded each and every second. Also quoted was that the App Store recently surpassed 250,000 applications available, which is a number we've been tracking over at 148Apps.biz App Store Metrics page.

Continue reading for the rest of the info on the days events -- and way too many pictures.

We've all been waiting for 4.1 for some time now, and Steve Jobs, seemingly sensing our anticipation, started the keynote with the iOS 4.1 announcement. As Steve would say, "I think you'll like it".

Bugs Fixed- Unlike some of the rumors that were floating around online the last few days, 4.1 will fix all of the issues that were plaguing the iPhone. The proximity sensor issue is taken care of, the bluetooth issues are fixed, and 4.1 will make the iPhone 3G not seem like it's quite as outdated.

HDR Photo - HDR Photo looks to be a really cool new photo feature that will make your photo's even nicer on the iPhone. Instead of just taking your standard, whitewashed or overly dark pictures, HDR photo will take 3 pictures at once, an underexposed one, an overexposed one, and the standard one. In a bit of Apple magic, it blends the three together to make your photo super pretty. Whitewashed and overly dark photos will magically become good looking, details that you never knew existed will pop up in your photos, and we will see world peace in 2011. Maybe I got a bit excited there.

GameCenter - GameCenter, Apple's attempt at unifying social gaming on the iPhone, looks to be far better than I expected. They didn't go into too many details, but unlike the current social gaming networks, Apple's GameCenter can push game invites straight to your phone. That's right, no emails for game invites, no going into silly websites to see what friends are playing what, just a solid push system. Jobs made a funny quip that if you don't have any friends, GameCenter will auto match you up with other people who are on a similar gaming level.

I can't believe I am saying this, but I'm pretty excited for GameCenter.

4.1 will be out next week, so be ready for some GameCenter invites from all of us here at 148Apps as soon as it launches.

Also announced in the keynote was 4.2, which will finally bring all these cool features to the iPad. Poor iPad users have been waiting far too long to get folders and multitasking, but all they have to do is wait a bit longer.

Also included in 4.2 is AirPlay and wireless printing.

Wireless printing does exactly what it says, finally allowing your iDevices to print from any printer in your wireless network. Will business users (people stuck on BlackBerry) finally stop complaining that iDevices aren't business savvy? Probably not.

AirPlay is the new redux of AirTunes, allowing not only music to be streamed, but video too. Now I guess college party hosts around the nation will start mixing videos instead of play lists.... oh the 21st century.

4.2 will be out on the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad in November.