iPhone OS 4.0 beta 2 hits the scene

That's right: a little under two weeks since the launch event and the release of the first beta, Apple has pushed out beta 2 of its next-gen iPhone OS 4.0. Considering that our units have seemingly gotten buggier over time the longer they've had beta 1 loaded, we've got high hopes for this one -- hopes that stand a very real chance of being crushed, of course, as long as this isn't a gold build. Guess we're still months off from that, huh? Stay tuned for a report of anything that's changed, new, awesome, or lame.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Zekeasakura Posted Apr 20th 2010 4:40PM]

@dahlem It worked with beta 1 for me so I think it should work with beta 2.

[dahlem Posted Apr 20th 2010 4:43PM]

@Zekeasakura Cool thanks one other thing is it downgradable?

[dahlem Posted Apr 20th 2010 4:44PM]

@Zekeasakura Also did you use that tutorial I posted by chance?

[mps Posted Apr 20th 2010 4:44PM]

I am not sure if this is qualify as gadget news.

[MRCUR Posted Apr 20th 2010 5:15PM]

@mps - Yes, it absolutely does. I wouldn't have noticed for a while without it.

[darkmyst85 Posted Apr 20th 2010 5:36PM]

I updated to 4.0 beta 1 using the Vmware method in windows 7 64bit without issue. After updating, I activated and restored from a backup in Windows.

[Toast Rack Posted Apr 20th 2010 6:04PM]

Cute new animation when you switch tasks.

[Mach Posted Apr 20th 2010 11:22PM]

@Toast Rack

Found a video of it on Macrumors, looks pretty neat, would be cooler if it slid right in though, instead of the blank space in between still.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubd7SLqI3nU

[jadieg57 Posted Apr 20th 2010 6:57PM]

is anyone having problems taking pictures or viewing images in the camera roll?

[KevinMcCallister Posted Apr 20th 2010 7:11PM]

@jadieg57 It's not work for me at all.

[brian515 Posted Apr 20th 2010 9:36PM]

@KevinMcCallister Doesn't work for me either. Doesn't work in 3rd party apps (such as mine) either.

I've submitted bug report 7886842 in case you're interested

[RLBurkes Posted Apr 21st 2010 12:51AM]

@jadieg57 Not working here either.

[carverd Posted Apr 20th 2010 7:05PM]

Do I have to be a developer to get the beta?

[mvd7793 Posted Apr 20th 2010 8:32PM]

Regardless of what Apple has to say, can someone who has tested this confirm if it's reliable enough (including compatibility with third party routers) to be used on a day-to-day basis? Also, is it possible to restore a 3GS upgraded to 4.0 Beta back down to a backup of 3.1.3?

[RLBurkes Posted Apr 21st 2010 12:58AM]

@mvd7793 I am using it as my day to day phone, but it is buggy. Depending on how valuable your phone is I might hold out. It works very well most of the time but definitely has problems. The early stages of Multi-Tasking are already marked improvements. Leaving an internet radio, answering a text and returning, now begins where you left off in middle of song, No background streaming yet as no third parties have gotten a beta build out yet. There is some task completion present as well, leaving a youtube video and returning after a minute or two initially restores the same screen you left but the progress immediately jumps a large portion.

[Johnny Rockets Posted Apr 20th 2010 10:14PM]

Who cares? Where's the FroYo news!

[mrgrassypants Posted Apr 20th 2010 10:46PM]

Unless you really need to double check your apps for 4.0 which i can't even do on ANY of my 3G units i would wait till at least B4. There are TONS of memory leaks and this is one of the buggiest betas i've seen in a long long time from Apple. I honestly don't think they aren't even complete with the feature set yet, just seems like something isn't kosher with these beta just yet. just stick with 3.1.2 or 3.1.3.

[Sepirioth Posted Apr 20th 2010 11:37PM]

HUGE bug, pictures dont get saved, the camera just freezes. You CAN take a pic using MMS and send it but the iPhones camera does not work anymore... apps like Genius dont seem to work either... ouch :/

[Hrimthurs Posted Apr 21st 2010 9:22AM]

It would appear that in the update section of the app store, the 'update description' for an updatable app is displaying the 'app description' instead.

[thrlride Posted Apr 21st 2010 9:55AM]

I'm installed beta 2, saw the camera bug and saw I still couldn't send email from my roadrunner account but decided to reload my music, apps and movies anyway. While iTunes was trying to load all of this data it kept getting an -5000 error so back to beta 1 I go. I sure hope they get a more solid beta out soon!

[ccjam1 Posted May 4th 2010 6:57PM]

Some of the things i've noticed going wrong with beta 2, apart from the usual 'bugs', slowness, crashing and most annoying of all - slow keyboard response!

1. when writing an SMS in Messages, if you press the home button, and then go back into the APP, and and then multitask out and multitask back in, what you are writing is different as to what it was before. I noticed this quite a lot, i'm guessing it could do this also performing this operation with other apps.
2. camera crash, cannot upload photos, cannot save photos, no screen shots etc. *Think everyone knows this
3. A lot of 3rd party app crashes *nothing new here
4.going into compass always produces interference first time you open it mine never used to
5. various crashes in app store e.g. when updating some apps, it comes up with "please update using wifi..." when I am connected through wifi.
6. I have no idea on the overall consensus, but I couldn't log into game centre.
7. I know I'll think of more after I submit this!