back to article Apple's iOS 4 beams into unprepared world

Apple's much-vaunted iOS 4 arrived Monday morning a few minutes after 10am Pacific time, and nearly an hour and a half later, we were finally able to complete downloading and installing Cupertino's latest and greatest mobile OS onto our iPhone 3GS. Were its marquee features worth the wait — meaning both the 10-plus weeks since …

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  1. Peter D'Hoye

    Get an n900

    Nice to see you get so excited over these features. My n900 has had that *basic* stuff since launch :P

    1. RichyS
      Stop

      Arrrrggggghhhh

      Please can we put a stop to these inane 'my [insert name of device] has been able to do this since [insert date I downloaded a hacked ROM for xdadevs]' comments?

      Fine, so the N900 can do lots of things. But it's a shite smartphone. The thing weighs more than an iPad.

      If the N900 was so fecking great, how come the only place I've ever seen one is actually at Nokia? Mostly because most people don't want to look like a dick holding a small computer up to their faces.

      You may love it. You may also love recompiling your own kernel and furious onanism. But please, can you stop with these pointless comments?

      1. Lance 3

        Get real

        Virtually every smartphone fresh from a box can do everything the iPhoney can and more. No need to hack anything; that is really only required to circumvent what Apple doesn't think you should be doing on the iPhoney.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          yes

          Yes, I also prefer to have lots more features, implemented badly, than have another manufacturer implement the same thing later but better. How dare they not include a personal teleporter!

      2. Ralphe Neill
        Jobs Horns

        A good counter

        All those "my 'phone has been doing that years" comments are a useful counter to the hype every time Apple adds something that's been around for years but gives it a new name so it will appear they invented it.

        And it's not just with the iPhone.. Remember "spaces" ... a crippled version of virtual desktops that Linux had for years?

        And then "there's firewire" and "airport" ...

        BTW, a neighbour of mine has never used WiFi because, "I never go near an airport!"

        1. Campbeltonian

          Not invented here

          Apple never claimed to have invented any of those things. Well, except Firewire, which they did 'invent'.

          What they usually claim to do is to make things usable. The only time the word 'invented' gets used is when the haters start to complain.

        2. tony
          Happy

          @Ralphe Neill

          Is it really that important to you if somebody doesn't know or isn't bothered who invented something?

          And you don't have to buy into the hype

        3. chr0m4t1c
          Thumb Down

          Doh!

          Bad examples, there.

          Virtual desktops weren't even vaguely new when they finally arrived on Linux, they've been around since the 1980's on X-Windows systems and probably somewhere else less popular befre that. I am interested in why you think the Apple version is "crippled" though.

          FireWire is Apple's brand name for the technology *they* created to oppose USB, *they* took it to IEEE and eventually it was turned into IEEE 1394. Most implementations call it FireWire too, although Sony call their implementation i.Link. What technology do you think they are pretending to have invented?

          Airport, again is just a brand name they have given to their implementation. They don't do it to make people think that they invented it, they do it so that Joe Public doesn't need to know about 802.11g/802.11b/etc.

          You need to brush up on your history before you start throwing stones at other platforms (to mix a metaphor).

          1. No, I will not fix your computer
            Stop

            Re: Doh!

            @chr0m4t1c

            Don't believe the hype, "the technology *they* created", Apple didn't create the technology, it was a working group which *they* put a lot of input into, and *they* were one of many patent holders for the technology.

            Apple made stupid mistakes, like insisting on a big fat connector which is rubbish on cameras and other small devices (hence the Sony interface that became standard that Apple went on to adopt), the driving reason behind it was to have a closed standard that people could make money out of (mainly Apple), and because of this it was nowhere near as popular as USB1/2 (and badly developed, insecure and had too many revisions unlike USB3).

        4. Rolf Howarth
          WTF?

          Airport?

          I can't remember who "invented" WiFi but I know I started using Apple's Airport in what was it, 1999? I was working in a high tech IT consultancy at the time and most of the other people I was working with just had blank expressions on their face when I tried to explain the concept of browsing wirelessly to them. It was at least 2 or 3 years later before Intel's Centrino ads hit TV that most people even heard of the concept. Ditto with things like USB and, to a lesser extent, FireWire.

          1. Waffles666
            FAIL

            The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

            quote:"I can't remember who "invented" WiFi but I know I started using Apple's Airport in what was it, 1999? I was working in a high tech IT consultancy at the time and most of the other people I was working with just had blank expressions on their face when I tried to explain the concept of browsing wirelessly to them. It was at least 2 or 3 years later before Intel's Centrino ads hit TV that most people even heard of the concept. Ditto with things like USB and, to a lesser extent, FireWire."

            Australia thats who!

            In 1992, the CSIRO obtained a patent in Australia for their wireless data transfer technology. In 1996, they obtained a patent for the same technology in the US.[6] WiFi uses the mathematical formula in the patents. In 2000, CSIRO demonstrated the world's first wireless local area network internet connection

            So maybe not in 1999? or maybe apple invented it?

      3. Can't think of anything witty...
        Grenade

        Wow... that was quick.

        While I accept that the iPhone is really popular and does a lot of interesting stuff, I am always amazed by what it can't do. For example, setting the wallpaper, setting a song from the media library as a ringtone, create playlists on the go and so on. These are things that I assumed pretty much every phone in that class would be able to do. Many phones have been doing it for a long time, so in fact it is conspicuous by it's absence. if I got an iPhone, not being able to do those things would surprise me.

        Now maybe people don't miss those things. Maybe they are not important to you. Maybe a lot of people don't use them. Maybe other manufacturers have something to learn here - in that it is worth taking everything out then adding it back later for a premium.

        But to be blunt, if you are going to talk about exciting new feature X you have to expect that some people will wish to point out that feature has already been done. Apple often claim to have re-invented the wheel every time that an update is made, other people seem to be frustrated / bemused by the way that people buy into this - getting excited about something that everyone else has been doing for a long time.

        What's your opinion the Nokia version of cover flow, on the upcoming N8? Let me guess... the important point is that you iPhone has been able to do that since...

        1. Doshu
          Thumb Up

          interesting point

          I suppose the many different products on the market today and the media frenzy often surrounding apple products can make it difficult to discuss them without some kind of comparison or partisan sentiment (depending).

          Personally, i always enjoy the debate -- makes all sorts of interesting things float to the surface -- no poo jokes, please! ^_^.

          Keep it up, reg readers!

      4. Windrose
        Flame

        Getting the rants right.

        RichyS ... whenever you go overboard with the anti-anti-fanboi ranting, try, TRY, to at least getting it right.

        The iPad WiFi+3G model, according to Apple, weigh 730g. The N900 (with WiFi and 3G) comes in at 181g.

        And yes. It IS a point to many that in 2010 a NEW "smart" phone can't multi-task equally well as devices some eight years old. Please don't start in with the battery time. To some it IS actually worth being able to run half a dozen applications at the same time - without any of them being "paused" or requiring a rewrite - for eight hours, instead of one application for sixteen. Yes, those are example numbers.

        If you don't like people telling you that, stop reading the comments. It's that easy.

        1. DZ-Jay

          Re: Getting the rants right.

          >> "Please don't start in with the battery time."

          Wow, what a counter-argument, there!

          Let's try that with some other things, shall we?

          - Sky-diving is the safest sport ever! And please, don't start with the "you can die" bit.

          - Cars never, ever crash, that's a fact. Please, don't start with the national statistics.

          - All nerds get laid every night. Please, don't start with the "with a girl" remark.

          - I can predict the future. And please, do not start in with accuracy.

          You're right, ignoring the actual point of an argument does work!

          -dZ.

    2. scrubber
      WTF?

      Haters and lovers

      While I do admire the UI of the iPhone (I have an iPhone and an Android) it does strike me that every time they announce a new feature the default reaction should actually be "you mean it doesn't do that already?"

      So fanbois and fanhaters (fanheaters?) can do their idiocy but the rest of us can either decide the iPhone does enough and does it well enough that we put up with its shortcomings, or we decide to go for a more functional phone that doesn't quite have the x-factor.

  2. NATO
    Go

    How to fix the problem with your images...

    "we discovered that photos that looked just fine and dandy in iPhone OS 3.x now look like fuzzy crap in iOS 4"

    I had that problem too, I solved it by unchecking syncing of photos in iTunes so they are deleted from the iPhone, then re-syncing them.

  3. OrsonX
    IT Angle

    Just installing....

    I will be excited to discover if:

    a) I can now finally have a custom message alert tone?

    b) The Smart Playlists finally sync correctly (broken for the whole of iOS3.X)

    1. OrsonX

      ...quite some time later (hours)....

      Anwers:

      a) nope, still only Apple sactioned bleeps

      b) hooray!! at LONG last the Smart Playlists are correctly syncd. I expect they'll be broken again in 4.0.1

  4. vincent himpe

    works fine

    i synced it over lunch ( 12:15 pacific time. took 7 minutes to download the image. no glitches.

    As said in the article : it's up to applications to make sure they are multitasking. my gps (navigon) pops back to the welcome page every time you switch ...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Thank you, Apple

    for deleting all my settings so that rather then getting some sleep I'm now trying to restore this bloody thing

    1. salada2k

      Ummm...

      Everytime you plug in, your phone backs itself up. So do the update, and the simply click restore. Its that simple, and you could wake up in the morning with your phone exactly the way it was. Certainly worked for me, and has done since beta 1.

      On another note, I'm looking forward to developers adding multi-task support to their apps. Get to it devs!!!!

    2. Eponymous Howard
      Megaphone

      I think perhaps....

      ....you should have shown a little more patience.

      Did that to mine too. And then restored them while I was watching the footie.

    3. OrsonX
      Unhappy

      Same here!

      The update (on my O2 3G):

      - deleted all my SMS messages

      - deleted all my Contact Favourites & phone preferences

      - deleted application data

      and, most annoying of all, had buggered my data connection settings

      So, to the poster who says "just plug it in and press go", no, not quite. It also had to transfer all 16Gb of music back to the phone, which took an age. The update seemed to hiccup when the iPhone rebooted and discovered the SIM lock.

  6. Mark 65

    Photos...

    "we discovered that photos that looked just fine and dandy in iPhone OS 3.x now look like fuzzy crap in iOS 4."

    Would that be because iOS 4 is expecting to be paired with that new higher res screen or someone has made that assumption in coding somewhere?

    Were these photos taken with the in-built camera and kept on the phone or photos synced from a PC and rescaled by iTunes?

  7. uhuznaa

    Photos syncing

    There are numerous comments out there that just syncing twice fixes the problem with the blurry photos. There are also users reporting greatly decreased space taken by their photos, so this may be down to different compression or something like that.

  8. JeffyPooh
    Happy

    Yummy, folders...

    ...which means -> More apps. Many more apps.

    Took a several hours, but smooth as silk.

    I wonder if they fixed the constantly-crashing browser?

  9. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

    Wait...what?

    iPhones are now as capable as Android 2.1?

    Crap. That makes future phone descisions harder. Here I was thinking the Milestone was a slam dunk...

    1. Mick F

      iPhones are now as capable as Android 2.1?

      No, they are not.

      1. The Original Steve

        Well, nearly

        Just need custom ringtones, un-restricted app installs, choice of hardware, removable storage, replaceable battery, turn-by-turn navigation and no need for iTunes... then it will be on par with 2.1.

  10. Anthony Eeles
    Dead Vulture

    Another fine technical review...

    >so it's impossible, for example, to identify a tune being played in Pandora by wrapping your headphones around your iPhone's microphone.

    Presumably, being able to identify a tune being played in Pandora by switching to Pandora and, in fact, viewing what's on the screen, is still possible?

  11. David Love

    No black wallpaper!

    If like me you're over 18, use XP in Classic Mode and prefer the original black wallpaper, you'll have to create a new 320 x 480 image in 100% black and save it to the device.

    Photos now display correctly after a re-sync.

    1. Dave 142

      a

      that annoyed me too. I just held my black t-shirt against the camera and took a picture though.

    2. OrsonX
      FAIL

      I've got Black Wallpaper on my 3G

      In fact I can have any colour wallpaper I want...

      .... as long as it's black!

      (want to swap?!!)

      I was actually really looking forward to finally having custom wallpaper, the fact that the 3G hasn't got this most utterly basic feature is totally lame!

  12. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. F'tangF'tang

      Is Required

      I'm tempted to tell you that I've seen your not so beautiful girlfriend naked, numerous times, but I wont.

      I'll leave it to the rest of our football team to tell you themselves individually.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      its must be the only one

      your have ever used then...

    3. Piro Silver badge

      You got a free n900?

      How the hell did you wangle that? I was in the list for pre-orders, but I got ultimately bored with delay after delay and by the point that it did come out, other, competitive smartphones were on the horizon.

      I never had a P800 because I had a friend convincing me it wouldn't be worth the money... I do have a P900 and a P990, though.

      1. TeraTelnet

        A P990?

        You have my sympathies then - I owned all three of those at various times and found the user experience got progressively worse as the line went on.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @UndergroundMan

      Trust me she isn't beautiful, even naked.

      Lucky she's so easy.

      .

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Thanks!

    Have you kiddies finished fighting over "My Dad/phone is bigger than your Dad/phone!" now? Can the adults carry on?

    As the classic saying goes, "Better to be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt!"

  14. Alan Sharkey

    I've done it.

    Thanks for this report. I now know how to create folders. I wonder when Apple will upgrade their documents to match.

    The 1 hour error when syncing to Outlook calender is still there. Doesn't seem a big bug to fix, but obviously not that important.

  15. Drew 10
    Thumb Up

    Easy to find App Dates

    If you want to know when you downloaded the last update, in iTunes, right click on the bar at the top of 'Apps' in your Library, and select 'Date Modified'. Voila. You can see the last download of it (and hence the last update).

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    My oh my...

    Look at all those downvotes today. I hope this update came with a box of tissues for the faithful.

  17. twunt

    @David Love

    Rather than mess about - just take a photo with the lens covered up with your finger and set that as wall paper. No light into the lens = plain black image.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Typical anti-apple sentiment...

    So users are 'Fanbois' if they use an Apple product?

    Reg, your desire to stamp on anything popular holds no bars, really it doesnt.

    As for the inane commentary from the readers, well, Apple may not have been first, but they do the best job so far!

    Folders just 'work', of course Multi-tasking requires apps to be updated to be aware of the feature!, and it's no worse than Androids. I'd rather have decent battery life than the abortion that my Magic is when an app plays rogue and drains the battery in minutes rather than hours....

    Frankly your all a bunch of jealous anti-fanbois.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Calm down.

      No, an apple fanbois is an apple user but an apple user may not be an apple fanbois.

      You can tell them apart because the fanbois are the ones that say ridiculous, illogical things and quote press releases when asked for an opinion.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        RE: Calm down.

        He was right about one thing though: there are more people bashing Apple (for little or no reason) than there are who defend them.

        You can tell them apart because the bashers are the ones that say ridiculous, illogical things, repeat inacuracies and generally fail to make sense.

        Personally, I own some Apple gear and it's a pleasure to use. (I've never used Linux but I'll bet it's also good. Windows however - don't get me started!)

  19. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    iOS4 - not the slightest sliver of documentation

    Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but it would be so nice to find an *APPLE* document where all those wonderful "100+" features of iOS4 are identified and explained. Nothing to tell you how things are enabled, disabled, prevented, augmented or actually can be used. Are you supposed to find this all by experimenting? All you get from the Apple website is a marketing statement about each feature - no detail on how to actually get to it.

    I use an iPhone because it saves me time for the functions I need. At present, it does what it needs to do, and some of the iOS4 functions look usable too. But if I have to spend days playing with the phone or digging through the web to find an article that does what Apple should have done it's pointless.

    I now have to read Gizmodo to find out how to use iOS4 - ridiculous.

    Oh, and as for the "my phone/make/model does this already" comments: yawn. I've used almost every smartphone going and I've been at it since the first Nokia Communicator. I have a simple demand from a phone, it needs to work for me. The iPhone does. Maybe Android does next year or next time I renew, then I'll buy that. For the moment, the iPhone covers my needs - apart from that %&ç* iOS4 manual :-)

    1. Russ Tarbox

      It does exist...

      ...helpfully, when you "agree" to the installation in iTunes. However I couldn't find it online anywhere either, when I was trying to work out why my 3G seemed exactly the same after the upgrade

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