Tuesday, June 22, 2010

iOS4

So I updated my iPhone 3G to the new iOS4 last night. The download took a mere 22 minutes, but the backup, install and restore took an interminable time. Eventually though it was done and I was ready to explore the wonderful new world of iOS4.

As a 3G owner, I had already resigned myself to the fact I wasn't getting multi-tasking or background wallpaper, so not too concerned about that.

The first thing I did was create folders, and tidy up my apps. I'm an organised personal (generally, though my wife might not agree), and I like a sense of order. It was nice to be able to group apps together inside folders according to type of app. It also allowed me to put those default iPhone apps I never use (stocks, weather etc) into an "unused apps" folder far away from my home screen.

The unified in-box is neat too. I don't have my work email on my iPhone, but I do have three different email accounts, and it's nice to get everything in one place. The threading view is also handy.

I did think that iOS4 had broken my Exchange syn with my work Outlook Calendar (several reports of similar around the web), but it turns out our work has switched off Exchange sync to non work phones because they can't be remotely wiped if lost. Not convinced of the security arguments myself, and it's a pain that I can have my work diary available on my iPhone, especially as you can now decide which calendars you want to display, rather than an all or nothing scenario pre iOS4.

I've also just discovered the digital zoom on the camera. Just tap the screen then drag to zoom. Granted digital zoom isn't that great, and on a camera that's ropey to start with it's even worse, but hey, it's better than no zoom at all! It's not like it's a replacement for my main digital cameras!

I'm sure there's a myriad of other enhancements tucked away, but those are the obvious ones so far. I'll discover more as I play more I guess.

I also felt that after the upgrade the 3G was a slower. Apps seemed to be taking longer to start up, and the response within apps didn't seem so good. This has largely disappeared following deleting my (now useless) Exchange calendar and doing a reset of the phone. Will keep an eye on it though.

I've seen some reports of battery draining faster too, but haven't seen this myself.

But I probably won't be playing for long, because I've decided that I'm going to upgrade to the iPhone 4 pretty soon. Watch this space!

No comments: