Guide to iOS 4

Finally the new awaited iOS 4 had been released and here's a complete or at least major guide for those who is wondering what's new and if I should upgrade people. First and foremost, the upgrade only available for iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G, iPod Touch 2nd & 3rd Gen users. For the multi-tasking feature, only iPhone 4, 3GS and 3rd Gen iPod Touch users are usable.You can upgrade directly from iTunes but first you need to upgrade your iTunes to the latest version 9.2 to do so. For those who is using an iPhone 3GS running on 3.1.3 with Spirit JB, please don't upgrade first as the JB for iOS4 isn't out yet. iPhone Dev Team did released the new UltraSn0w 0.93 but it's just an unlock and not JB. Take note.

Multitasking (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

The picture above shows the multitasking feature that comes with the new update. Try opening Safari and then tap the home button and close it. Open another application and double tap the home button and a menu tray as above will pop up from below. Tap on any of them to switch to the other app. To close the apps, you will just need to hold the icon and as usual, it will start to shake. A minus sign will appear and you can just touch on it and the app will be close. The interface is clean and neat. I am used to Circuitous so this is good.

Apps Folder or Customize (picture courtesy from Gizmodo)

This is a good feature as I can now throw all those useless apps into one folder and god-riddance to them. You just tap and hold the icon as how you arrange your icon now. Just place one icon on top of the other and it will automatically create a folder for them. It is so smart that it will choose a name for the folder based on the icon you had placed in it. Or you can just change them as you like by tapping on it. The maximum apps in a folder is 12 but it will only display 9 as above. A bit silly, I know. Hopefully they will fix this in the new update.

Improved Mail (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

The new mailbox when open, all the emails will be group by replies. For example you see above there's a numbering next to the mail, that shows how long is the thread. Tap on it and all the others will pop up. The other new feature would be the unified mailbox. Like me, I have my office mailbox, hotmail, yahoo and Gmail. And they will separate them one by one and it's a hassle to open them one by one. So now you can choose to see them all in one mailbox. It will also reply your mails according to your account. The phone is now smarter too with the new link feature. Tap on any dates and it will pop up on your events, or addresses and your map apps will pop up. Even if there's a tracking number, it will direct you to the UPS website. How cool is that. Another small add-on would be the contact picture on your email if you assigned a picture to the contact with their email. A small touch but it's quite thoughtful.

New iPod Control Interface (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Since we can't bring up the iPod control with a double tap on the home button, as it's being replace by the multitasking feature. You will need to swipe through the drawer to find the iPod button and tap on it. It's not as fancy as the previous OS but this is the only what we got for now.

iBooks (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Finally the iBook apps is available in iPhone. It's first appearance was in the iPad few months back. But it doesn't come standard with the iOS 4. What? Hold your pants. You will need to download it from the iTunes, and it's FOC. So for those who fancy reading books and all, this is your choice. At least you have the choice to choose not to have an additional unwanted apps in your phone, right?

Custom Home Screen Wallpaper (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Finally we can change our home screen wallpaper, not that I can't change it with my JB iPhone now. But for those who don't wanna JB but hates the boring all black home screen, this is good news for you all. Just go into Settings then Wallpaper. You will see two icons which represent your current home screen and lock screen wallpaper. Click on them to choose picture from the wallpaper or from your library. For iPhone 3G, you won't have the wallpaper. 

Digital Zoom (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

This feature is simple to use. Tap on the middle of the screen in camera mode and a slider will appear on the bottom like the picture shown. Slide right to enhance and left to reduce. Take note, it's digital zoom so, if you go 5X zoom, the picture will go blurry. And you can't zoom during Video mode, it's only focuses.

Toggle Cellular Data (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Now you can turn ON/OFF your cellular data. Cause if you're going oversea and you just wanna use Wi-Fi, disable the Cellular Data option. Tethering is already available in Malaysia, so I am not going into this. You can just choose using cable or Bluetooth.

Add New Playlist (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Finally I can add a new play list from my phone. It's such a hassle having to create a new play list only from my iTunes. I know there's the On-The-Go option, but you can only create one play list. Just follow the instruction on screen and you got your own play list in no time.

New Contact Outlook (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

The new contact page looks has more details and you don't have to go into sub menu to change them. This is good when you wanted to view the person's last name or company or even add a new number for the same contact. 

Spell Check (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Finally spell checking is available in the iPhone. A lot of people who migrate from conventional handphone are not used to the non-spell checker in the iPhone. So now, your wish are granted.

Character Count (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

To me this is not important but to some people who wanted to know how many words had they entered, here's something for you. You can also toggle your MMS feature for whatever reason you want to do that and also grouping of messages.

Custom Dictionary (picture courtesy of Gizmodo)

Now won't feel stupid when you try to tell your friend to "duck off" or they are a bunch of "ducking idiots". haha~ That does sound stupid. You can now add your own language in them but first you need to add a foreign language keyboard first in the International Keyboard menu. Silly, I know. 

So here are some of the 100 new features (claimed by Apple) you are having when you upgrade to the new iOS 4. But again, for those fella who is on JB and wanted to remain JB, please don't update. For those who is on JB and do not want to JB anymore (for whatever reason), you can go to iTunes and RESTORE your iPhone to OS 3.1.3 and then only UPDATE to iOS 4 for a clean update without any problem. Or you can just plug in the cable and press iOS 4 and update. Whatever method, please let me know what you think of the new iOS 4. I know I am waiting for the GeoHot or Spirit or The Dev Team to come out with a JB before I decide to update or not. Cheers~!!!