Since day one, I have carried an Apple iPhone. Unlike when the Microsoft Xbox 360 came out, I did not wait in line for it. I was given the phone for Christmas from my oh so kind father. I had wanted nothing more that year than an iPhone. The power within that mobile device was something to get excited about. Not only did the phone make calls, send text messages, and have an array of launch date applications in the iTunes app store, it was also a powerful web-capable machine that ran off of Apple’s Safari browser.
Since then, they have released a couple of other versions, including the 3G and the 3GS. I currently carry the 3GS, and on the release date of the 4GS, I will own that as well. I am obsessed with having the latest and the greatest that Apple has to offer (minus the iPad). But even after a couple of years being on the market, the iPhone’s software is still not where it needs to be. Other companies have released phones such as the HTC Incredible, but nothing even comes close to the iPhone.
Apple is set to release their 4.0 software update for the iPhone, but not the iPad , and there are a bunch of changes coming. Actually, there are over 100 changes coming for the iPhone. I won’t get into all of those here, but I did want to talk about a few of them that are going to make an immediate impact for most users.
Running Multiple Applications
One of my biggest pet peeves with the iPhone is that I cannot run two applications at the same time. I can’t listen to a song on last.fm and send a text message at the same time. This causes an issue when you want to run multiple applications. Some people might not think that is a big deal, but developers and powers users alike are bothered by this. With 4.0, you will be able to run up to seven applications at the same time.
Application Folders
I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of applications saved on my s. I don’t pay for applications, but I like to download free apps, games, and anything that will pass the time from the app store. I actually have eight pages of applications on my phone. That includes a page and a half of default apps, and goes all the way to tip calculators to pointless and mindless games. My phone is so cluttered! With 4.0, that will no longer be the case.
The new software update implements application folders. This is crucial for people like me who like to stay organized. You will even be able to give them custom names like Games or Movies. I predict that I will be able to go from eight pages to only a couple with application folders.
Better Email
One of my favorite features of the iPhone is the email function. This is great, because I have my email with me at all times. But, I have multiple email accounts. I have a couple of Gmail accounts, a Yahoo! account, and even a Hotmail account. But as the iPhone is currently setup, I have to log out of each account to check my mail in another one. This is not that big of a deal, but it does waste time and cause a hassle. But with the 4.0 update, your email accounts will all fall into one unified page view. This will make answering and responding to multiple emails accounts that much easier.
The 4.0 software update will not work for all Apple products. 4.0 will actually be available for the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and only the second and third iPod Touch generations. It will not work on the first generation iPhone or the new iPad. Company reps say the 4.0 update will hit the iPad soon, but have not yet released a date. This comes in good time for Apple with the recent launch of their iPad with built in Wi-Fi. I look forward to seeing so many more of the changes in store for us iPhone users out there.
