iPhone OS 4.0: How to get the most out of the upgrade

Multitasking is, of course, the most long-awaited of new features, but they will be available only to owners of the iPhone 3GS, 4 and new-generation iPod Touch. Owners of the 3G model and iPod Touches sold in 2008 will get some of the new features (but not multitasking), but processing power limits the scale of further upgrades. If you have an original (2007-8 ) iPhone or iPod Touch, then sorry - it's not going to happen.

Multitasking: With a double-click of the home button, you'll be taken to a screen showing all running applications. This enables background audio – a big win for those who like listening to the radio on the move but don't like being locked in to one application. Multitasking is expected to bring a boost for Skype, as new VOIP (voice over IP) technology enables calls to be made while the application is closed. (Charles Arthur adds: arguably, this is cooperative multitasking like in the classic MacOS days: the foremost app gets pretty much everything.)

5x camera zoom: Zoom comes free with the iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera, but now those with a 3GS (3.2-megapixel) camera can also get a close up. Those with older models will have to move towards the photo subject.

Enhanced video: This is cool. Tapping the screen whilst shooting video will focus the recording on a chosen subject. Simple and smart. Great for those with iPhone 4 HD recording.

Bit on my 3G

It's slowed things down a bit on my 3G and my UFC and Daily Beast apps are not working correctly. My sisters 3GS looks a lot better now she's got that iPhone 4 wallpaper and she doesn't seem to have any issues with the speed.

That's not true. The apps are suspended in the background, and dont do anything unless they have specific functionality. Thats the reason Apple took some time to do multi-tasking on the iPhone ( it is well within the capabilities of the underlying OS)

The zoom also works with a 3G phone - tap the screen

The zoom also works with a 3G phone - tap the screen and a zoom bar appears. It's a digital zoom though rather than an optical one, so don't expect too much.

Right now though, I find the process of keeping apps open like the Clock, or Settings, or even the Phone app are pointless -- I end up having to double tap and regularly clean out which apps are running and which aren't.

@Briantist They are also rolling out over the week so that systems can be as reliable as possible on the launch day. If they released iOS4, the iTunes update and the iPhone 4 all on the same day their networks would take a severe battering. It looks like sensible planning to me. But yes, it will also help the share price, but hey, that's business.

@anig: I do agree that these pages could be used to better showcase the more cutting edge mobile tech. I'd like to see a bit more information on serious alterntatives to the iPhone 4, for example.

I was really very happy with my decision not to get an iPhone, and happy with what I chose instead. Now I feel like I did when I was the only kid left in school whose parents wouldn't fork out for Doc Martens. Support is dying away, developers are defecting in droves and the biggest casualty will be choice.

I think if there is any particular trend of developers defecting at the moment, it's away from Apple's platform. I don't know, perhaps the buzz around iPhone 4 and IOS4 and the associated revenue-earning opportunity will change that, but I understand there is increasing disillusionment with Apple's conditions and inconsistencies, while the Android platform gets stronger and more popular, driven by a rapidly expanding range of very high-tech handsets.

Look, yesterday there was a major update to a very popular phone's operating system. The technology section has a quick guide to some of the new features.

Just get over it please, I couldn't give a stuff what your flippin' Android phone does so I don't see why you should be that bothered what my iPhone does. Android gets plenty of press so stop acting like a cheerleader and start acting like a reasonable consumer.My phone was better than when I bought it this morning because it has a lot of new features. Some big, some small. I don't care who did it first, I care who does it right. This seems to be a very good update. Let's all benefit from the competition and we can all have what we like, and be content enough with it that your ego is not dependant on your smartphone's processing power.

a) advertising dressed up as journalism b) failed to mention any of the features on the OS in relation to existing smartphones of various makes, models and OS, which already have some or all of the technologies described, and have done so for quite some time c) gives the reader the impression that Apple is the only show in town.

Daily occurance

This is a daily occurance. An article was published yesterday headlined 'How do Apple and Google see the furture of mobile', which then failed to mention Google at all in the text. A commenter pointed out that the described technology aquired by Apple already exists in other smartphone OS'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/21/apple-google-future-mobile

@CharlesArthur: None whatsoever! Not for an overall trend, anyway – I have read a lot of discontent being expressed by app developers on various fora, people claiming they were planning to stop developing for the iPhone because of Apple’s increasing “bullshit”, etc. So it’s perfectly plausible that these are a minority swimming against a tide of developers moving to Apple. I am inclined to take Apple’s own developer conference stats with a little pinch of salt, though…

How big/fast/etc

@anig @chiji - I'd also say that reviews which simply look at how big/fast/etc and ignore the question of usability are simply missing the point of a mobile phone, let alone a smartphone. What's important - perhaps most important - about a smartphone is how easy it is to use and how well it does what you need it to do. Simply saying mine's got a 650MHz chip, nyaah is infantile, really.

Where's the article on upgrading to the latest HTC Android phone? Given the sales figures of some non iPhones why do they never even feature in the Guardian? Both the HTC Desire and Sony X10 are currently selling in spades, not that you'd know this from any press coverage here.

How big/fast/etc

I'd also say that reviews which simply look at how big/fast/etc and ignore the question of usability are simply missing the point of a mobile phone, let alone a smartphone.

I was really very happy with my decision not to get an iPhone, and happy with what I chose instead. Now I feel like I did when I was the only kid left in school whose parents wouldn't fork out for Doc Martens. Support is dying away, developers are defecting in droves and the biggest casualty will be choice.

It's interesting that you mentioned not getting an iPhone but didn't say what it was you bought. Were you after a specific phone/features or were you looking for anything other than Apple?

Order for an iPhone having eschewed them

I've recently placed an order for an iPhone having eschewed them and smartphones generally for a while. I tried a few Android offerings hoping to like them because like it or not, the iPhone is at the upper end of phone pricing and I would prefer a cheaper option. In the end I couldn't find anything that I got on with as well as the electric fruit and the alternatives from HTC and Sony left me distinctly underwhelmed.

1. The malign influence of the phone networks needs to be kept well away from any phones. I don't want a device that Orange, Vodafone or anyone else has loaded up with whatever shite they pass off as applications. One good thing about Apple's control freakery is that it stops the networks 'tailoring' the phone to their requirements as opposed to those of the consumer.

2. The constant flood of new products is good up to a point but there is something to be said for a slower release schedule with more of an emphasis on polish and usability than simply cramming in as many features as possible. It also shouldn't be an excuse to not support existing phones with firmware updates to enable new features which is another area in which Apple lead many of their competitors. I don't want to have to buy a new phone just to upgraid to Android v2.2.

There are some strange people commenting here. I read this article to get some info on the upgrade to my phone. Some people seem to have read it because they don't have iPhones and don't like them. So they have annoyed themselves? It's like reading an article on Ferrari and complaining it's anti porsche or a nissan bls bla is faster. If the article was called the ten best mobile phones then yes, mention the nokia, but the Nokia hasn't been updated with ios4. I have an iPhone and I'm really pleased with the update. It didn't cost me anything and it's like having a new phone again. Can't see the problem. I've had many phones over the years including nokia, Sony etc but none of them are as nice to use as my iPhone. Yes it's lacking in a few areas but it integrates with my pc very well. Lighten up everyone. Just to really annoy the anti iPhone alliance, I'm writing this on my iPad....no USB port!!! Discuss.....

1. The malign influence of the phone networks needs to be kept well away from any phones. I don't want a device that Orange, Vodafone or anyone else has loaded up with whatever shite they pass off as applications. One good thing about Apple's control freakery is that it stops the networks 'tailoring' the phone to their requirements as opposed to those of the consumer.

-Of course the argument is that the control freakery extends to the customer. What with all Apps having prior approval by Apple etc. So it's really a case of do you want the phone company in control or Apple? I suppose you could always delete said applications of the Android phone, or does it work differently? Do the phone manufacturers/networks exert a lot of control in this area? I know there is the Sense UI from HTC but what else is there?

2. The constant flood of new products is good up to a point but there is something to be said for a slower release schedule with more of an emphasis on polish and usability than simply cramming in as many features as possible. It also shouldn't be an excuse to not support existing phones with firmware updates to enable new features which is another area in which Apple lead many of their competitors. I don't want to have to buy a new phone just to upgraid to Android v2.2.

-The new iOS4 doesn't work on any iPhone pre 3G, so you would have to upgrade in that case. It's not that big of a deal but it's not correct that Apple hands this out to everybody, the 3G model doesn't get multitasking either, so it's not completely even. I think where the concern is with Android is that there is some confusion regarding upgrades, wherein there is the middleman of the phone networks/manufacturers between the customer and Google, rather than Apples system of bypassing the networks through iTunes. Again I'm not an expert on this, but is it the case where some Android models are able to run the updated software, but they are prevented from doing so by the networks? That would be a bit annoying, at least Apple let you know where you stand.

By the sounds of things here most people have made their decisions on what phone they like, and are merely out to prove a point. One has to wonder why there is this clamour for comparison articles, is this just so you can prove to people you don't know that the specs of your phone are better than theirs? Seems a bit childish eh? And what if the Guardian did this and your pet favourite didn't do so well, I imagine you'd take it quite calmly and would not in any way insist this newspaper was making it all up for it's friends in California.

As to Android updates: surely those are either-OTA (over the air), so they just work-not available at all for a specific phone, so there's no way of doing them at all. Depends rather on the flavour of the phone.

So the day when the iPhone eventually get the features we all have on our smartphones - and have done for years - it's the lead story Apple have placed in the Guardian (for surely this can't be based on an editorial position).

I've lost count of the amount of things I've been told the iPhone doesn't do that every other supposed Skynet in your pocket can do. Not once has it ever made me regret my purchase, which is exactly the intent. Oh look how gullible you are, falling for marketing/Kool Aid/whatever the hell, I can make my own emulators and install a custom OS and fiddle around with the root on my phone and blah blah blah..... Nope, very happy indeed, and first doesn't always equal best, do you want to take a cross country drive in a Model T or a BMW? An extreme example, but what matter is it who get's there first, my only concern is how good the phone is, not bragging rights.