iOS 4 release time has arrived. Here's how to install it.
Apple on Monday released iOS 4, the long awaited update to the iPhone operating system. iOS 4, which will arrive pre-installed on the new iPhone 4, brings a range of features to the iPhone platform, including multi-tasking, a 5x digital zoom for the iPhone camera, tap-and-zoom support for video, and a new ad platform called iAd.
The iOS 4 release went live early on Monday afternoon – approximately 1 p.m. EST – with many users reporting considerable lag time on the Apple servers. Getting ready to download Apple iOS 4? Get comfortable, and prepare for a wait. Next, jump online, and make sure you have iTunes 9.2, the latest iteration of iTunes, and the only one compatible with iOS 4.
Once you've got 9.2 installed, reboot your computer, plug in your phone, and navigate to the Check for Update button on the iPhone summary pane. Click download and go and make a sandwich. By the time you get back, you should be up and running.
Over at Ars Technica, the new iPhone OS is already getting rave reviews. "Trying to live without even the most basic aspects of multitasking... can be frustrating once you have used [iOS 4] for a while," staffer Jacqui Cheng wrote in an extensive review of the new iPhone OS. "During the time I wrote this, I continually switched back and forth between an iOS 4 phone and an iPhone OS 3.x phone, so I know from experience."
As Steve Jobs hinted back in April, for most users, multi-tasking – the ability to jump back and forth between open apps – will be the biggest draw of iOS 4.
“It’s really easy to implement multitasking in a way that drains battery life," Jobs said at the launch of iOS 4. "If you don’t do it just right your phone’s going to feel sluggish and your battery life is going to go way down. We’ve figured out how to implement multitasking of third-party apps and avoid those things," he added. "It’s very, very easy to use and very efficient, and I think users are going to love it."
