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Apple iOS 4.2 Hands-On
adeelarshad82 writes "Apple's highly-anticipated iOS 4.2 update for iPad, iPhone, and the iPod touch finally arrived this morning, along with an update for Apple TV. The update includes Airplay, which enables wireless streaming of video, photos, and music from your iOS device to Apple TV. AirPlay is an exciting new development for iOS device owners who also have Apple TVs. As long as the devices are on the same wireless network, they automatically detect each other. AirPlay also lets users multitask while streaming video to an Apple TV. Unfortunately though, AirPlay is a one-way street. Users cannot stream something they rented on Apple TV to their iOS device. The iOS 4.2 update also included the introduction of AirPrint, which is the wireless printing solution for the iPad. (The ability to print to a printer attached to a local PC or Mac was dropped from the release, however.) Other minor changes Apple squeezed into this update were: better Word document fidelity in iWork, multi-tasking, and Game Center."
As of 1:12PM EST a "Check For Update" still tells me that 3.2.2 is the latest version.
Hoping I can get the update today and play with it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
The required files for CUPS in OS X and 10.1 for windows were dropped from the current release and printing can be enabled with third party software on the mac or by obtaining files from the earlier beta of 10.6.5.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
The OP's priorities seem a little odd.
The big update of iOS 4.x is multitasking. Its far from being a "minor" update.
And since AirPlay requires the purchase of an additional device, I doubt its a high priority to the majority of ipad users.
...and its been stellar. The only thing I find odd is quitting apps. The Home button now goes back to the home screen. To quit an app, you must double-tap the home button to display the task bar where you can close apps much like removing apps from the home screen: tap and hold reveals (-) buttons where you can close items.
Not all that obvious, and you can not close an app unless you switch out from this app because the currently running app is not displayed in the task bar.
Multitasking is a minor change? AirPlay and AirPrint are so world shaking that took all the space of the announcement?
And since AirPlay requires the purchase of an additional device
It doesn't, because you can AirPlay to any Mac.
It makes more sense to use AirPlay with an AppleTV, but people who use mac minis as media PC's can make use of AirPlay as well (although in that case I'd think most people would be putting video on the mini to start with so I'm not sure how widely used it will be).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I have a nice pair of Sennheiser headphones that worked with my Iphone when I first got it but now it refuses to pair with them. Apple claims it supports A2DP natively but I'll believe it when I see it.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
It's not totally obvious how to quit apps, but there's generally no need - because any app you quit is really more suspended than backgrounded, so it's using no system resources just sitting there (unless it's set to do some background task like playing music, and then you want it doing something of course).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I wrote an Android app that allows me to tell a UPnP MediaRenderer (like a WD TV Live +, although that particular unit has many shortcomings) to play a movie file that lives on my phone. This sort of functionality is already available in a couple of off-the-shelf androids and will probably be a standard feature by the end of 2011.
I'm told the big advantage of the Apple version of UPnP is authentication, which is not mentioned in the UPnP specs I have read.
> All software is broken.
... have they somewhat improved the miserable performance of these devices on iOS 4.x? I hate being continuously reminded that I'm not complying to the upgrade treadmill by using a not-yet-2-years-old-paid-500EUR-for-the-privilege phone... :/
Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
TFA is all about AirPlay, which to me is a niche feature. Maybe not minor, but I doubt most iPhone/iPad owners will ever use it. There are a lot of nice updates, as shown on Apple's site:
http://www.apple.com/ios/
AirPrint, Find My iPhone/Pad/Pod, on-demand remote wipe, respond to calendar invitations, SMS message tones, on-device TV show rental... Lots of features that I suspect will get more use than AirPlay.
Would be nice if Airplay would stream through something else. That handy Remote app from Apple is great but limits you to your iTunes library on your computer. I'd rather see it work with another iPhone.
4.2GM was still buggy and they did a spot release last week
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that 4.2 gives the iPhone/iPad native MIDI support. As a musician, this is huge.
What the GP means is multitasking for the iPad, which has so far been absent, thus this is a huge release for iPad owners while only a minor release for iPhone owners.
iOS 42. is totally useless for iPhone users until it gets jailbroken. Stay away like the plague until it's jailbroken and stick with 4.1
It seems really pretty dumb to stream media (except when on travel or sharing a few recent photos) from the smallest device you own in terms of storage space, and battery life. I want to be able to stream from my Mac (PC whatever) TO the iOS devices. I'm perfectly fine with limiting the formats so I have to transcode on the sender. That would make the appleTV a perfect media center thin client. It would also give me all sorts of music when mowing the grass for instance with my phone. I could watch a movie in bed that I just downloaded from the net without adding media that might be a one-time viewing into my iTunes library and syncing.
Apple already does this with the airport express and DAAP (and friends: DMAP, DPAP), this should not be a big leap to treat my iPhone as an airport express of sorts.
Sheldon
For me the best new feature will be Find My iPhone - a service that used to required the $99 mobile me subscription, but is now simply included free. Works for Iphone 4.0 w/ iOS 4.2 Allows you to locate, show a message, play a sound, or remotely lock/wipe device.
No no no. This is the biggest new feature:
>> Notes with fonts -- Customize your notes using different fonts — Marker Felt, Helvetica, and Chalkboard.
Goodbye, ugly Notes font of the past.
Really-- I think they have a sense of humor like those IBM guys...
One of my favorite clauses in the Apple iTunes Terms and Conditions:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html#SERVICE
You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture, or production of nuclear, missile, or chemical or biological weapons.
I know Apple products are great and all, but they do have their limits of use.
Installation of itunes requires a reboot of the system. I wonder why this is needed. Anyone?
Unfortunately Apple still is behind the curve on making PDFs readable. Many new PDFs use jpeg 2000 for images which leave portions of my PDFs blank. It's the same on the iPhone. I can read them fine on my PowerBook G4 and MacBook Pro and even my Windows 7 box, but not on the iPad.
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Did Apple really need it's own version of industry standard DLNA?
"There are nearly 8,000 products on the market that are DLNA Certified [10]. This includes TVs, DVD and Blu-ray players, games consoles, digital media players, photo frames, cameras, NAS storage, PCs, mobile handsets, and more" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLNA
Android devices are already supporting this, you can bet the coming onslaught of Chrome tablets will support it too.
Apples wireless sharing offering is looking a bit silly.. why not just go with the industry standard?
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
It was a seemingly minor thing when released, but was one of the biggest usability increases in OS browsing since the file browser.
Every single person I show this to (who hasn't already used it) is impressed by the capabilities... and it was a minor addition to 10.5.
I think AirPlay will be the same. Sure you have UPnP and DNLA, but Apple has solved some of the biggest issues with those file-sharing implementations that make it work different and better (ie, seamless cutover from one device to another, support for streaming, etc)... like cut and paste in iOS 3.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Downgrade your 3G back to 3.1.2
There is a lot of material online to guide you through the process.
Are the two that I'd be interested in... but neither are really important to me. Nice to have the option, though.
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While I like some of the changes, the change of the screen rotate lock button to a mute button is just plain dumb and a change I can't forgive.
I used to use this on a daily basis and it was especially useful for reading in bed or lying down. To mute the device, I'd simply hold down the volume rocker switch. Dead easy.
Now, screen rotate lock is something like; double tap home, swipe to the left, tap the lock icon, tap home again.
Now, a lot of people are saying that this is to do with bringing FaceTime to the iPad. Well, that doesn't make sense. In an iPhone audio call, the mute button is located on the screen. On a video call via FaceTime, I'd expect to see it in the same place, especially with the iPad's increased screen real estate over the iPhone. And it goes without mentioning that the current iPad model doesn't have a camera, so the whole argument is moot (mute?).
Apple made a mistake here IMO. There were other ways of muting if necessary beforehand, and they've just gone and added a third way of doing it, while burying one of the useful features down in a frustrating and unintuitive fashion. And all for no good reason, just an exercise in "it's our device, not yours". It will probably move me in the direction of Kindle for reading to be honest, and the iPad will go.
Unless there's some point I'm missing?
Can it be unlocked for those of us in the US who don't want to use AT&T as a carrier? (I just made the mistake of upgrading my wife's unlocked 3G to 4.1.)
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
(Stereotypical click-n-drool Mac users look away now)
Now, it just so happens that my printer is connected to my old PPC Mac Mini running Debian because (a) that's my "always on" system and (b) the Mac OS USB driver for my cheapo Samsung laser is b0rked.
I stumbled upon this page and, Lo!, now I can haz airprint from my iPad without even having to switch on my main Mac. This looks as if it should work from your typical hackable NAS boxen, provided it can run CUPS and AVAHI...
I love Mac OS on the desktop, but, seriously, on the server side, Linux is cookin' with gas.
If, however, you want something that Just Works on your Mac, though, Printopia is worth a look.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Blast from the past!!!
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
...*faints*...*wakes up, thinking it's ten (more, really) years ago*
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
Like I siad, I could have sword I read earlier it would work though iTunes - the original statement is totally correct, most people would need an extra device (AppleTV) to use that feature.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
My iPod still is an hour off when doing alarms and calendar reminders. I've yet to find some way to fix this, hoping that it would be repaired in a patch.
The old first iPhone (Edge) is still at iOS313. With a lot of bugs, with a lot of security holes. Apple should really give an iOS314 with fixes ! At least four millions of these iDevices are still running.
-- Rastignac was here.