World of Apple

Apple has previously labelled June 21 as the day in which it will release its next major OS upgrade for iPhones and iPod touches. iOS 4 (nee iPhone OS 4) as it is known was first shown off by Apple in early April, ever since then a steady trickle of betas has helped developers take advantage of the new features.

Apple has not announced a time for iOS 4 release but around 10am Pacific Time (6pm London) would be in line with previous releases.

The following devices are compatible with iOS 4:

• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4
• Second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB).

iOS 4 is a free update for all compatible devices.

A look at iOS 4

iOS 4 carries over 100 new features and seven major features.

During the keynote presentation Apple demonstrated these seven major features:

• Multitasking
• App Folders
• Enhanced Mail app
• iBooks for iPhone and iPod touch
• Enhanced enterprise features
• Game Center
• iAd

Apple also alluded to the following features:

• File & delete Mail search results
• Search SMS/MMS messages
• Web search suggestions
• Choose image size in Mail messages
• Bluetooth keyboards
• CalDav invitations
• Larger fonts for Mail, SMS & alerts
• Cell data only setting
• Spell check
• Persistent Wi-Fi
• Gift Apps
• Birthday calendar
• Recent Web searches
• Create Playlists
• Sync IMAP notes
• Top Hit in search
• 5x digital zoom
• Nested Playlists
• CardDav
• Tap to focus video
• Upload workouts to Nike+
• Places in Photos
• iPod Out
• Home screen wallpaper
• Search SMS/MMS messages
• Wake on wireless

Below a series of screenshots obtained from across the numerous betas, some features may have changed before the final build but they offer a good idea of new features.

Left: Home screen with default wallpaper. Middle: App folder filled with maximum 12 apps. Right: App folder as seen from home screen.

Left: Options to set wallpaper. Middle: double click the home button to get the running app dock. Right: Press and hold an app in the dock to quit it.

Left: About. Middle: Location services showing apps recently using my location. Right: The time can now be set automatically or manually.

Left: SMS messages can now have a character count. Middle: Emails can be threaded into a conversation. Right: List of mailbox inboxes.

Left: Notes can be synced to different IMAP servers. Middle: Photos now has events, faces and places. All photos taken with iPhone are geo-tagged and put on the map in Places. Right: Camera app has 5x digital zoom.

Left: Swiping left on the App tray now reveals the orientation lock button and iPod controls. Middle: iPod controls and orientation lock. Right: Even when iPhone is in landscape orientation the App dock appears on the right of the display.

Left: About. Middle: Places in action. Right: Individual icons are pinned on the map in Places.