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Phone OS 4, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
by: Jim Chute
After roughly ten minutes of use, I can honestly say that I can write a full review on the changes in OS 4.
Overview
iPhone OS 4 includes many new features that definitely enhance the user experience. as far as upgrades go, considering the amount of publicity, i didn't see what the big deal was. users now have the ability to make folders to categorize apps, FINALY (its not like you couldn't just jailbreak and do that what 3 years ago or anything.) multitasking is only available for iPod Touch 3G and the iPhone 3GS.
New Look
Not much has changed, the dock now looks more like the Mac OS X 10.5.x-10.6.x dock, it is glass, and reflective. a few icons have changed, and the battery now shows a percentage.
Added Features
Settings.app now has airplane mode so iPod touch users can disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi using one switch, as opposed to just disabling which one you don't need.
users can now change sounds for new mail, sent mail, calendar alerts, lock sounds, and keyboard clicks - kinda. You can’t change them; the all-mighty apple couldn't give its users to the freedom to change sounds. Nope. Instead of changing them, you can disable or enable them, and change the volume level.
Game center added, not sure what it does, but my best guess is that it has something to do with what Apple refers to as games. but since the SDK is unavailable for windows, 78% of the worlds developers, are not making games.
Wallpaper
Not for iPod touch 2g..... because the "hardware cannot support" a still image on the home screen... give me a break. everyone who has been jailbreaking their iPod's knows that the 1G can handle wallpapers. that’s just bull to try to get you to buy a new device.
Folders
GREAT NEWS you can now make folders on the home screen to categorize your apps. doesn't that sound familiar? wasn't there an App called Categories that could do this like 2 years ago? oh wait, I forgot to mention that you can drag apps into the folders without re-springing which is something categories failed to accomplish, BUT, folders can only hold nine apps at a time, for no apparent reason, except to let you know, that apple is the boss of how you use their device.
View of a folder
so, it seems that this is all the features iPhone OS 4 has to offer.... thanks a ton Apple, I really love your tight grip around my neck.
so here is the bottom line, while my review seems kinda negative, if you never Jailbroke your device, due to your stupidity, or your fear that "Big Brother is watchin you" this will be kinda neat, and you will probably enjoy it, but as for the rest of us, wait until the Jailbreak is available for it : )
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Faster Boot Time
Improved User Interface
Folders for those who never Jailbroke.
Slightly faster
Thats it.
Cons:
many promised features were made only available for the "newest" hardware as a marketing scheme
Folders only hold 9 icons each
Bluetooth Keyboard only for "New Hardware" although if your iPod has Bluetooth, it obviously can handle a keyboard....
no jailbreak as of June 8th.
Still no Flash - Lucky us, huh?
To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?
That’s really up to you, I greatly prefer a Jailbroken 3.1.3 as opposed to a freedomless prison that has like 5 small new features. If and when you do upgrade, I strongly recommend Jailbreaking because the lack of freedom Apple has given us is frankly quite disturbing. Apple, COULDN'T YOU HAVE AT LEAST THROWN IN FLASH?!?!?!
Thanks for reading,
-Chipudnik
