Apple iPhone OS 4.0 Hands-On

Engadget managed to get OS 4.0 installed on their iPhone 3GS to test what all the new features are like. Overall it looks very impressive and although not the final version of the OS, it seems to run smoothly without any issues at the moment.

Engadget demonstrate all the new features such as multitasking, folders, mail, the camera and various other functions. Some things worth noting are that the camera now has zoom. Zooming the camera unfortunately doesn’t use pinch to zoom, but the slider is more responsive than any other mobile phone zoom slider we have ever seen – ie, it has no delay to the zoom when dragging in and out.

The folders function seems to work very well in that you can easily create a new folder, give it a name and simply press and hold to grab an app and drop it in (or out) of the folder you created. Once done, a mini icon appears in the folder icon to show you how many apps are in there and perhaps, which apps are in there if the mini icon is clear enough).

A few things that don’t currently work include iTunes 9.1 deleting folders as it doesn’t know what they are or how to deal with them at the moment (ie, a new iTunes will launch prior to the OS 4 release).

Multitasking does give you the ability to close out applications (unlike what Steve Jobs had to say on that point). To achieve this you simply tap the home key twice to load up the multitasking tray and then press and hold on an app where a minus sign will appear in the top left corner that you can click on to close it down.

Overall, it looks impressive although we need to see more of it to make any final judgements. But, from what we have seen it works very well.

Via: Engadget

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