For more information about this firmware version, please read “iOS 4 Almost Her!” posted earlier today.

Installation instructions:

• Update iTunes to version 9.2
• Start iTunes 9.2 and connect your iPhone
• iTunes either automatically shows there’s an update for the iPhone, or you can search for update by pressing de “Search for updates” button
• iOS 4 will be available for download, follow the on-screen instructions
• If, for some reason, iTunes doesn’t display a new update, you can download the IPSW-file from Apple, link: http://ios.e-lite.org/

iOS 4 Features

First of all, and probably the most important feature; Multitasking. It’s one of the most asked features for the iPhone and people are now finally able to do multiple tasks at once. Just double tap the home button and an extra bar will show up at the bottom of the screen showing your currently active apps.

The second most important feature (at least in my opinion) is the Folders feature. Keep your finger on an application till it starts wiggling, then drag it on top of another app and let go. The two apps immediately form a folder and the software names the folder accordingly. So placing two games in one folder will result in a ‘Games’ folder. You can also rename the folders to your own liking.

Another great feature is the  Unified Inbox. Have multiple gmail-accounts, hotmail-accounts or other email-accounts? You can now organize them to look like it’s one inbox. If you get a mail in your gmail-account and later a mail in your hotmail-account, both mails will be shown in one inbox. So you don’t have to open one account first, then go back to the main menu and select the next account. It’s all organized together.

I must admit, I don’t read a lot. But the e-book reader of the iPad is wonderful. It’s only a logical step to introduce iBooks for the iPhone. The cool thing about this feature is that you can read a book on your iPad, sync it to your iPhone and continue reading on the iPhone where you left off on your iPad. There’s no need to buy the e-book twice and it also doesn’t matter if you buy it from your iPhone or from your iPad, the e-books are interchangeable.

There are a lot more features, but smaller in significancy. The Wallpaper feature for instance. It’s already available on the iPad, but with iOS 4 you will be able to set a wallpaper for the Home screen on your iPhone as well. You will also be able to Gift apps, use Faces and Places on your iPhone and pair a wireless keyboard via Bluetooth. A very small new feature, but a very welcome one, is the fact that text messages now show how many characters you’ve used so far, telling you how many messages you’re sending. I’m sure there are a lot more very welcome changes, but I think I’ve discussed the most important features here.

Is a jailbreak still needed?

To answer that question, you will have to ask yourself why you want to jailbreak your iPhone in the first place. My reason to jailbreak my iPhone was to be able do multiple tasks at once. Another thing I do like is the fact that you can make folders. But with the iOS 4 you get Multitasking and Folders, so two very big issues have been solved. The display of how many characters you’ve typed in a text message is also one of those things that is no solved with iOS 4.

If the above reasons are the only reasons to jailbreak your iPhone than I would recommend using the iOS 4 software from now on and don’t use the jailbreak anymore. The result is a more secure iPhone and one that has all the features you want it to have via the official way.

However, there are more reasons to jailbreak. To name one: SBSettings. This application is used to change your phone’s settings. But instead of closing a currently running app and tapping the Settings icon to change your phone’s settings, you can swipe at the top of the screen (over the displayed time and battery percentage) to activate SBSettings without closing any app. You can then turn on/off options like Wi-Fi, 3G and Push. With the same app it was also possible to lock the screen from rotating (the rotation lock will now be available in iOS 4).

Another reason to still jailbreak your iPhone is the fact that you can install themes with an app called Winterboard. You can also change to theme of the lockscreen and the icon dock. And one other big reason to jailbreak the iPhone is that you will be able to install Mobile Theater and download movies with it…for free.

To get back to the question: Is a jailbreak still needed? For me personally I’ll go back to the official software to at least try out if I miss anything of the jailbreak. If I do miss things like SBSettings and themes, I can always jailbreak my iPhone again and start using the wonderful apps in the Cydia store. I must admit Apple did a great job at implementing some frequently asked features and convince me to go back to the original Apple software.

Last pieces of info

• The release of iPhone OS 3 took place after 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific. The same is expected this time
• You can update your OS by syncing your iPhone/iPod touch with iTunes
• The first generation iPod touch and iPhone will not receive an update
• The iPad will be updated to iOS 4 this fall
• You can check if the new firmware version is available via this link: http://ios.e-lite.org/

iBooks Update

Steve continued to talk about the iPad in an update of iBooks. Although he says they’re updating it today (read yesterday) I think he just means he is going to show you what kind of update they have in store for us and then release it later this month.

This is from the WWDC10 June 7th keynote:

Now you can make notes. In addition, we’ve added a control to just tap and bookmark a page — under ToC you’ll see all the notes, highlights, and bookmarks

We’ve added another big enhancement — the ability to view and read PDFs. So we’ve built that in. You can now view PDFs. We’ve put a little selector at the top — books and PDFs. You get a whole new bookshelf just for PDFs, they just look gorgeous.

Magical iPad

There was a lot of fun during the keynote, with one part in particular. Steve wanted to emphasize the fact the iPad is really a magical device. So he showed a message he got from someone with an iPad claiming the following:

So this chick magnet is really a magical device. “I have proof”, Steve says.

Let Your Fantasy Go. Again.

One of the first posts on iPadFreakz was one called “Let Your Fantasy Go“. It showed a not very Apple-ish concept of a tablet that could be inserted into a newly manufactured iMac. I stated that battery is one of the key things of such a device. And it turns out it is. With 10 hours (some say the iPad can last even up to 12 hours) of battery life the iPad is a long lasting device.

I think it’s time to let my fantasy go once more. With the iPhone 4 we get a couple of new things: Retina Display, 5MP Camera, iMovie, Dual-mic and the Gyroscope. Now I was thinking what will be in the new iPad. I know, it may be too early to start speculating about the second iPad version, but I’m just very excited about the new iPhone features.

I think it’s fair to say that the next iPad will have a camera in the next version. It’s not a prediction, it’s a fact (as well as better GPU, better CPU, more Flash storage and better battery). Having a camera on the iPad or not is not a big deal for me personally. I’ll still buy one if the next doesn’t include a camera, but I know many people want it so Apple will likely put one in. And it should be a 5 MP camera.

Now one of the most unexpected and weirdest additions to the new iPhone, I think, is the iMovie application for iPhone 4. We have Keynote [App Store], Numbers [App Store] and Pages [App Store] for the iPad. We also have Photos on the iPad. The next logical step would be to add an iMovie app for iPad. iMovie on Mac is one magnificent piece of ones en zeros and really is a heavy duty app. Such an application is cool on a phone ofcourse, but I don’t think it’s that practical (even though I haven’t held it in my hands yet). Steve said the iPad is especially good for productivity apps because of its larger screen. Something the iPhone can’t offer. That’s why I think we either get an iPad version of iMovie later this year or next year at the introduction of iPad 2.

The iPhone is ofcourse Apple’s baby and flagship at the same time. It’s the most profitable product in their entire repertoire. But in comparison the iPhone has more pixels than the iPad. This Retina Display sounds and looks stunning, but wouldn’t it be a much smarter step to implement it in the iPad? I do think so. A stunning 326ppi on a 9.7-inch display will provide an even better experience of browsing the web, watching movies and playing games. Therefor I think the Retina Display can be another one of the new features of the second iPad.

Dual-mic is very good for a phone but not really necessary on the iPad. The only thing I can think of the dual-mic being useful, is for apps like Skype. For those of us in possession of an iPad 3G it could be handier, since they can make VoIP calls while in the bus or train. Still I think most of us will just grab their iPhone to make a phone call. So dual-mic in the next gen iPad? No.

But take a look at the Gyroscope. That’s an interesting piece of hardware. It provides much more accuracy when using apps like Zen Bound [App Store]. It adds 3 more axis to the already wide range of sensors inside the iPhone. Together with the accelerometer, the compass and GPS, these sensors become a very powerful tool. Playing Need for Speed Shift [App Store] for instance can become much more realistic. Steering the iPad slowly could result in turning left in a big bow. But steering the iPad fast can result in a sharp turn. That’s what the Gyroscope can offer. Games can become more realistic and I’m sure there are some brilliant developers out there being able to come up with something nobody thought of before. So to add a last thing to the next iPad, the Gyroscope is a definite YES.

I think that’s enough fantasizing about the iPad for today. What do YOU want in the next iPad?

iPhone 4 Design

The iPhone 4 has a completely new design. It comes in black or white, just the usual. But it has a stainless steel band, which functions not only as the phone’s antennas, the band also provides structural rigidity. The volume buttons are now separate plus and minus buttons. And there is the microphone, headphone jack, speakers, 30-pin connector.

The new feature is that iPhone 4 has dual-mic instead of only one. One mic is at the bottom and the other is right next to the headphone jack. This secondary mic is used to cancel background noise so you can have a clear and silent conversation.

iPhone 4 also has a new processor chip. The iPad offers an A4 processor chip and the iPhone uses the same A4 processor technology but pushed on an even smaller chip. This makes the iPhone 4 a fast mobile phone capable of smoothly executing tasks like multitasking, video editing, and placing FaceTime calls.

The battery is the largest component of the iPhone. It is designed to provide 40% more power. The talk time will go up to 7 hours on 3G and 14 hours on 2G. The Internet use will go up to 6 hours on 3G and up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi. The battery will last up to 10 hours while playing video and up to 40 hours when playing music. In other words: an impressive improvement.

New Camera System

The iPhone 4 has two camera’s and both of them are impressive. The normal camera on the back is now a 5 megapixel camera which produces sharp and crysp pictures. The exciting part is the fact it offers LED flash. So even in the dark, making pictures is fun. When you look on the front you’ll notice another camera. The front-facing camera is used for video calls. This features is called FaceTime and can be utilized in many ways. Click “FaceTime” to see FaceTime in action.

Just call someone and tap the FaceTime button to start video-chatting with each other. And with a simple tap you can switch between both the front camera and the one on the back. The FaceTime feature only seems to work on Wi-Fi. Apple will have to make deals with providers to offer 3G video calls.

The Retina Display

This technology allows for better and much sharper display of pictures, video and text. The pixel density is so high, your eyes  won’t even be able to distinguish individual pixels. This is what they call a Retina Display. The new 3.5-inch display has 4 times the number of pixels per inch. The ppi is now at a stunning 326. The contrast ratio is also 4 times higher, meaning every single color is just much brighter then you’re used to with previous iPhone models.

The iPhone 4 also offers IPS, the same technology used in the Apple LED Cinema Display and iPad. To top it all off, the glass of the screen is made of the same material used in trains and helicopters. It’s harder, more durable, more scratch resistant and even more flexible.

Video Recording And iMovie

The 5 megapixel camera has become something you’ll use more often then a normal digital camera. Since a phone (in this the iPhone) will be with all the time, it’s a perfect device to use for making pictures. But what’s even cooler is the fact it can now shoot video in high definition. Even in dark environments you can still make perfectly smooth videos.

After making a video you may want to edit it a little. Making the clip shorter for instance. But with iPhone 4 comes a brilliant new piece of software: iMovie for iPhone. The application will soon be available for just $4,99 and offers features like adding themes and transitions. It’s designed for multi-touch and offers you the possibility to also add photos and music.

As far as the information on Apple’s pages goes, it seems the iMovie app is only available for iPhone 4. No word on iMovie for 3GS or previous models.

Gyroscope

According to Apple the iPhone 4 is the first phone with a built-in three-axis gyroscope. This new sensor is capable of sensing advanced motions. It can now ‘feel’ when you’re moving forward or backwards, or up or down. This allows for a better gaming experience and people will probably come up with some interesting new applications.

One example of such a gesture: if you move three fingers in a downwards and rotating movement you open en application. This way of controlling the software has been developed by FingerWorks, a company acquired by Apple in 2007. Such a version of iWork would presumably allow the upcoming Apple tablet to be used for document creation rather than solely content consumption.

The Tablet computer is rumored to be introduced later this month during an Apple event on January 27.

Source: New York Times