I'll discuss my first impressions on the upgrade by addressing them in the following categories:
- Ease of upgrade
- Visual and Interface Enhancements
- New Functionality
- Performance
Ease of Upgrade
After downloading the new image, I was able to apply the new iOS4/Firmware update to my iPhone 3GS using iTunes 9.2 (currently in beta for Mac only.) The process of sending the update to my phone and the installation process took less than 15 minutes.
I did not lose any data or applications that were on the phone prior to the upgrade. Caveat emptor... since iOS4 is not currently available in public release, please remember upgrading at this time is risky and if you want to ensure all goes smoothly, you should wait until the public release of the software on June 21st.
Visual and Interface Enhancements
Visually, the first thing I noticed was that the home screen now had a wallpaper image behing the application icons. iOS4 introduces a couple of new wallpaper images, and allows you to set the background of the lock screen and the home screen to have the same or different background images. It is a nice addition to the home screen, and adds some more depth to the interface. The application icons look the same to me, with the exception of the newly added "Game Center" icon.
Although the 3GS does not offer the "Retina Display" pixel-depth technology upgrade that is present on the iPhone4, I am pretty happy with how the interface looks after the upgrade.
New Functionality
For me, the most compelling new functionalities offered in iOS4 are the unified inbox for email, the ability to group application icons into folders, and the multitasking feature.
Unified Inbox
For me, one of the drawbacks of previos iPhone OS versions, was the need to backtrack out of email accounts through the interface to access emails in other accounts. I have my phone setup with two accounts. One for my work Exchange email, and one for my personal gmail account. A more streamlined experience was needed.
The new unified inbox delivers on many levels. You can access emails from all acounts in one area, "All Inboxes." It's great to have all of my emails delivered in one location. You also still have the ability to go into specific email inboxes for each account. I am really liking the unified inbox, as it saves me time having to switch accounts to see what new messages I have.
Conversations in Gmail are grouped together when accessing new messages in a thread, and that is a really nice touch. When you reply to an email, it replies from the same account it was sent to, as it should. Apple did a great job on nailing the unified inbox functionality.
Grouping applications into folders
This function is very valuable for me, as I have tons of applications on my phone, and adding the ability to group applications into folders has allowed me to arrange my apps in a more organized fashion. This also cuts down on the used screen real estate, and I do less flipping between pages of apps. The manner in which this feature is implemented is great.
To add apps to a folder, you access the icon placement mode as before by holding your finger on any app icon for a couple of seconds until the app icons start to wiggle. You then drag an app you want to place in a folder on top of another app that belongs in that folder. At this point, the interface changes and a suggested name for the folder appears above the two icons. You can change the name of the folder to anything that you'd like. The smaller the folder name, the better, as the interface will truncate long folder names due to limitations on how the app icons and names are displayed on the home screen. You can then drag additional app icons into the folder you have created.
Multitasking
Another weakness of previous iPhone OS versions has been the need to exit applications when utilizing another. This has been addressed in a very unique way in iOS4.
To switch to another app while one is open, you press the home button twice, almost like the double-click of a mouse. The interface changes, and a row of applications appear just above the home button. You can scroll left and right amongst the icons in that row, and switch to another app, all while you keep the original app open. The user interface functionality of this feature is pretty intuitive and useful.
Currently, my experience is that multitasking works only with the native iPhone apps like email, messaging, safari, etc. Since the new iOS4 isn't publicly available, there are no apps in the app store that currently support this feature. From what I have read, each app has to be specifically designed to support this feature, and it is expected that upon the release of iOS4 on June 21st, we'll start seeing updates to apps that support this feature, along with many new apps that support multitasking as well. So far, I like what I see, and am hopeful that many of my favorite apps are updated to support multitasking soon.
Performance
It's only been a day since I upgraded, but I am not seeing any real changes on the battery time on the 3GS. Due to the fact that there aren't any non-native apps that support this yet, I'll have to revisit the battery question when I start to utilize multitasking in a more demanding manner.
The speed of which applications open and close, and the performance of each application appears to be unchanged. I haven't had any apps crash thus far, and really have not seen any degradation of overall performance. As time goes on, I will update this post with new observances in regards to performance.
Thanks for reading! I look forward to any comments or questions you may have about iOS4.
