iPhone 4.0 Gets Multitasking, Bluetooth Keyboards, 5x Digital Zoom... and More!

[Michael Essany]

This morning, Steve presided over a dev preview of iPhone OS 4. And he didn't disappoint.

The new iPhone OS, which will serve up more than 1,500 new APIs, comes packed with a plethora of awesome, long-awaited features: a social gaming network, advanced eBook reading features, the ability to create playlists, 5x digital zoom, tap to focus on video, geotagging, homescreen wallpaper changes, bluetooth keyboards, spell checker, and more.

After the hype and a little stroll down iPhone/iPod/iPad memory lane, Steve Jobs finally spoke the words we've been waiting to hear. The iPhone will support multitasking. "Now we weren't the first to this party," said Jobs, "but we're gonna be the best. Just like cut and paste."

So what took so long you ask? According to Jobs, the team at Apple has been toiling for many month on implementing multitaksing in a way that won't obliterate the iPhone's battery. And, based on the demonstration today, it appears that Apple succeeded in giving customers what they want without exacerbating another longstanding problem in the form of a weak battery.

So here are the seven services for multitasking: background audio, voice over IP, background location, push notifications, local notifications, task completion, fast app switching. For the demonstration presented, it was awesome to witness how the OS 4, for example, makes it possible for you to obtain directions from a GPS app while still rocking out to the music from the iPod app.

It's evident from the details provided thus far that Apple has clearly endeavored to give customers many of the features they've demanded at long last. And it also appears they've done so in a very thoughtful, efficient manner that not only satisfies the iPhone user base, but also significantly advances the power and potential of the device itself.

Image via Engadget

[Tommyrast]

Finaly , ..I'm sure the one .!!!!

[rockjohn]

so whens it gunna be available to public

[ForumSnoBorderRK]

woooooooo!

[geo411m]

This update almost removes the need to jailbreak.

[kraziebone]

So I still am not sure if I am completely understanding... If your app doesn't fall under one of the seven categories you can't run in the background? is that right?

[moon#pie]

sure we could do all of this before with our jailbreak, but apple sure makes it a lot cleaner. Won't feel as badly if I lose my JB

[Happy Noodle Boy]

They just knocked it out of the park with 4.0.

Holy crap everything I wanted and then some!

[s1l3nt]

amazing

[miistahmagic]

iphone 4.0 adds a relfective glass dock to the homescreen like on the mac and ipad, multitasking, folders... lol backgrounder, categories, and I ssh'd a theme in winterboard with just the glass dock and have been using it with reflective dock before the ipad was even announced lol gotta love jailbreaking... I am glad that Apple has finally delivered though.

[hpsauxe]

much point in jailbreaking?

[cir_osis]

Now all the jailbreak community needs is an Adblock for iAd.

[Rcooley617]

anybody know a release date?

[StealthBravo]

I am about to start the download for my iPad

[waroftyr]

anyone have a dev spot that they can throw me on so i can get this, please pm me if so, ill throw you a few bucks for it if you want too


come on stealth i know you got one

[StealthBravo]

^ PM me I got ya

[jordonj]

I am about to start the download for my iPad

no iphone first! lol

[M4tt Dam0n]

iphone 4.0 adds a relfective glass dock to the homescreen like on the mac and ipad, multitasking, folders... lol backgrounder, categories, and I ssh'd a theme in winterboard with just the glass dock and have been using it with reflective dock before the ipad was even announced lol gotta love jailbreaking... I am glad that Apple has finally delivered though.

Lmao I did the same thing. And yeah I can basically do everything 4.0 does with jailbreaking.

[StealthBravo]

no iphone first! lol

I am going to start all downloads But I am installing on my iPad first

[hpsauxe]

anyone have a dev spot that they can throw me on so i can get this, please pm me if so, ill throw you a few bucks for it if you want too


come on stealth i know you got one

i would love that tooooooooo