iPhone OS 4 hands-on (updated with video!)

Okay, so we're currently holding our breath while the developer preview of iPhone OS 4 installs on our 3GS -- a process that seems to be, uh, not going so well, but we wanted to share these quick shots we took from the simulator in the meantime. The dock is now 3D, like the one in Snow Leopard and on the iPad, multitasking works just like you'd expect -- you can swipe left and right to see more open apps -- and the Game Center app is present, although not functional. There's also Events and Faces in the Photos app, which you'd expect after the iPad version got them. We've got our fingers crossed that our latest restore attempt is going to work, so check back in a few for a video walkthrough, but hit the gallery below in the meantime!

Update: Wonder of wonders, we actually got the bugger working! We're doing video right now, let us know what you want to see -- and check out some on-device shots below.

Update 2: Video time! We also added some impressions, it's all after the break.

iPhone OS 4 simulator screenshots

iPhone OS 4.0 device screenshots

Okay, so we've been playing with iPhone OS 4 for a while now and here's what we've learned:

• It's pretty stable, especially compared to other developer editions of the iPhone OS we've messed around with. We haven't had any crashes so far, and things seem mostly to be working. Find My iPhone doesn't work, and iTunes 9.1 doesn't know about folders and will delete any you've set up, but nothing major is broken, at least as far as we can tell.
• The multitasking system works as described, but without any apps that support it it's hard to test -- we'll see if we can cajole a copy of Pandora or TomTom to play with. Steve might say task managers are a sign of failure, but you can certainly delete icons from the switcher -- just long press on them and a minus arrow pops up.
• Bluetooth keyboards are going to be the next great iPhone accessory gold rush. Been jonesing for a million-dollar idea? Here you go: slider keyboard case with built-in extended battery. We prefer our royalties in cash, please.
• We couldn't get threaded messages to work in Mail, but we're sure we're doing something wrong -- we've never really gotten along with iPhone Mail.
• The zoom control on the camera is pretty slick, and there's okayish macro. Tap-to-focus in the video mode is also a nice addition.
• Spell check works just like the iPad, as do cut/copy/paste hardware keyboard shortcuts. Still no way to bring up the soft keyboard from the device when it's paired, though, which is annoying if you walk away -- you have to remember to turn off Bluetooth, which will undoubtedly confuse someone.
• Faces and Events in Photos are just like the iPad -- they're just fancy folders. The actual face-detection happens on your machine, and things are just sorted on the phone.
• Setting up a Gmail account also prompts you to sync calendars and notes -- hallelujah!
• Game Center is a barren wasteland right now, since no apps support it -- we managed to log in and discover that we have no friends and no one has requested to be our friend. Suitably humbled, we logged out.
• We didn't have any major problems running our OS 3.0 apps, and we didn't see any new ads or anything.
• And that it, really -- without third party app support a lot of these features won't come into play just yet. Without them, it's just a nice iteration of the iPhone OS -- what else do you want to know?

[Heliosphan Posted Apr 9th 2010 11:26AM]

Hi Engadget.
I'd like to see the device freshly booted, with the multitasking panel empty, as I'm not sure it just starts off filled with stuff like the first video made out.
But its not like I don't believe you guys or anything!
It would be nice to see the initial launch of an app, then pop back to the springboard to launch another one not already on the multitasking panel.
When you guys said it wasn't 'true' multitasking, what did you mean - are the apps still there or are they just shut down, and come back up the same screen and in the same state the next time you launch it, you know, like how the iPhone has always done it!? I'm a little confused about that, but its clear that it IS true MT when you're running an app that makes itself known as you use another app, such as an internet radio app or something.
Thanks

[pmb Posted Apr 9th 2010 11:28AM]

@NilayPatel
Is there any change to the notification system?

[StefanC Posted Apr 9th 2010 11:35AM]

How stable is this release. Do all the basic functionality like phone, texting, mail etc. work reliably? I know Find by iPhone doesn't work but apart from that? Could it be used as in daily operation or is it really only preview quality?

[jkiellocey Posted Apr 9th 2010 11:39AM]

@chrisu91 Thanks, hope they make it more sometime.

[K3V1Nbot Posted Apr 9th 2010 11:44AM]

how about the calculator app? i noticed that they changed it, please show it to us :D

thanks

[JRBenning Posted Apr 9th 2010 11:57AM]

Okay, I'm looking for Faces on my iPad and can't find it. Am I missing something or did you mean faces works like the "Places" folder on the iPad. If the latter... I'm pretty bummed.

[HYBRiS Posted Apr 9th 2010 12:33PM]

I just wonder why you all keep saying "multitasking" in your articles, like it's actual "multitasking", when there is none.
All the background programs are paused in the demos. Show us a single example of a program actually multitasking.

[abeworld Posted Apr 9th 2010 12:41PM]

@HYBRiS

"There are seven services: background audio, which allows you to use the standard pop-over iPod controls, Voice over IP, which can receive calls in the background, location services for GPS and social networking (there's an indicator if any service is tracking you), updated push notifications with local notifications, task completion so you can finish things like uploads in the background, and fast app switching, which lets apps sleep and resume instantly."

so, it appears that it Is true multitasking for SERVICES. For the rest (like games), the app is just paused. I think this is a brilliant solution! Perfect way to conserve battery and RAM. For the record, I played with my friends 4.0 beta and it was working WITHOUT A HITCH or any sort of slowness with 64 apps open!!!! Infact, there was NO difference in battery life reduction too for the 1 hour we played with it.

[abeworld Posted Apr 9th 2010 12:45PM]

@HYBRiS

(dunno how to edit my post :() ofcourse by 64 'open' apps i mean services working in the back (including things like IM that already work) and other paused apps like games.

Also i believe there is a video which shows Safari opening a page and then the user shifts to another app via the multitask dock and then comes back after a few seconds and the safari now shows the open webpage.

[dionhall85 Posted Apr 9th 2010 2:09PM]

@abeworld

how about when pandora is playing and it is not up on screen! that is true multitasking! watch the key note and see it in action!!!!

[dionhall85 Posted Apr 9th 2010 2:07PM]

Can you tell me if it now support outlook calendar event requests?

[Wezzuz Posted Apr 9th 2010 2:45PM]

There's more managing of tasks in this than there is in Android...

[rfwpresto Posted Apr 9th 2010 4:27PM]

yeah. what happened to the double tap the home button for ipod controls? no one has seemed to answer how to get those to come up now that double tap is multitasking.

[Stuntastik30 Posted Apr 9th 2010 4:51PM]

its three taps and a shake now...kidding. it wouldn't be too bad if it were three taps like apples earphone mic 3 click feature to go to previous songs.

[Stuntastik30 Posted Apr 9th 2010 4:39PM]

id like to see how good the spell check works. the word suggestion feature that they have currently is a bit annoying sometimes and doesn't always pop up when you need it.

[Stuntastik30 Posted Apr 9th 2010 4:54PM]

this will most likely never happen but it would be interesting if iphone adopted "Swype" as an alternative text input feature. very highly unlikely but cool if it did.

[Stuntastik30 Posted Apr 9th 2010 5:08PM]

The next iphone is going to be called simply iPhone 4. it makes more since then iphone 4G, and definitely not iPhone HD because of the Zune HD. but ill admit that fake commercial of iPhone HD was pretty cool.

[collide007 Posted Apr 9th 2010 5:09PM]

What happens when you want to rename the folder, I'm guessing the whole thing will slide up even more to allow the keyboard to slide up, but be interesting to see in action.

[collide007 Posted Apr 9th 2010 5:13PM]

It's odd that you can't invoke the software keyboard while paired to a physical one, as you can on the iPad when it's in the keyboard dock. Maybe it's so you can't forget it's still paired?

[collide007 Posted Apr 9th 2010 5:15PM]

What happens to a folder icon when there is more than 9 apps in it? The max is 12 I believe, but there are only 9 spaces in the icon.

[collide007 Posted Apr 9th 2010 5:20PM]

As the app switcher is invoked with a double press of the home button, what does this mean for those who have the action already mapped to say the iPod? A triple press would be an idea.

[Wardy125 Posted Apr 9th 2010 5:28PM]

looks good. Release date?
or at least a rumoured date?

[tamahome02000 Posted Apr 9th 2010 8:28PM]

Safari already multitasks in iPhone 3, but thanks for the reminder. I wonder if apps still crash when ram is low. Maybe that's why the 3G won't get multitasking.

[xGodmode Posted Apr 10th 2010 3:24AM]

If anyone needs their UDID added to a dev list, send me an email. [e-mail] Have done it for several people already.

[Picklesworth Posted Apr 10th 2010 2:14PM]

Double tap, tripple tap, tap and hold — all on the same button…

What the Hell?! This sounds like a day in the life of Captain Pike.

[alexsaidani Posted Apr 10th 2010 8:23PM]

Can someone ask apple to fix the really buggy messages app in the new OS, i don't know what they did to it :/ :P

[cata12 Posted Apr 13th 2010 8:01AM]

About multitasking: Jobs admitted they are not the first to implement this but want to be the best. This is the full list of new implementations with snapshots: http://www.thehdstandard.com/eyepartner-news/iphone-os-4-0/

Catalin

[zoeman Posted Apr 22nd 2010 1:29AM]

i want to see the stock music player playing while you do something else...

[MsAmazing64 Posted Jun 27th 2010 5:46PM]

I'm currently updating to OS 4 right now. Is it supposed to take an entire afternoon to accomplish?