iOS 4 is Apple’s latest version of operating system for its line of mobile devices namely, iPod touch, iPhone and iPad.
Among the many features included, the prominent ones are multitasking capability, folders, integrated mailbox and ability to customize the home screen.
Finally users can distinguish their devices by customizing their home screen. While much more can be done to improve customizing features of iOS, the ability to change wallpaper gives a fresher look for the system. Also, gone are the days where you have to flip through pages of apps, they can now be sorted in easily accessible folders.
While the multitasking function is a definitely welcomed and much needed function for all smart phones, its potential has yet to be fulfilled at this state.
Like all great operating systems, the success of it greatly depends on the applications that supports the system. In the case of iOS 4, sure there are millions of apps for it, but in terms of multitasking capability, only a handful of them have utilized the new APIs. Many of the games, and music-playing apps still do not fully support multitasking. For instance, you would have to reload the game or the music gets turned off once the app is switched.
Consequently, many of the current apps are rather unstable ever since I upgraded to iOS 4.
On a lighter note, I’ve observed that the standby time seems to have improved slightly. While he is no iPhone developer, a friend of mine theorized that it is the ability to kill the apps running in the background that is extending the standby time of the phone.
