iOS 4.3 Review
by Andrew Cunningham on March 9, 2011 11:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- iPad
- iOS 4
- iPhone 4
- iPod Touch
- iPad 2
- Mobile
Another major addition is Personal Hotspot WiFi tethering for the AT&T iPhone 4, a feature introduced in iOS 4.2.5 with the Verizon iPhone 4. The AT&T phone can share its 3G connection with any 3 WiFi devices (down from 5 in the Verizon version, though this is almost definitely a carrier choice rather than a hardware limitation), but in order to use it you’ll need to shell out for the “DataPro” data plan that offers 4GB of bandwidth a month for $45. Sorry, iPhone 3GS users, but this feature won’t be available for you.
iTunes streaming also comes with the 4.3 release – once everything is properly configured, you can stream music or movies from your computer directly to your iDevice from your computer’s iTunes library. This is an extension of the Home Sharing feature that debuted with iTunes 9 (though iTunes 10.2 is required for this particular implementation).
If you haven’t already, you’ll first have to setup Home Sharing in iTunes using your Apple ID – this Apple ID will have to be the same as the one you use for your iOS device. Then, on your iOS device, you can find the Home Sharing settings in the settings for the iPod app.
Once you’re setup there, you should be able to stream from any Home Sharing-enabled computer on your network. In my admittedly limited experience with the feature, I had no problem sharing my iTunes library with either my iPhone or my iPad over my wireless network. It gives my 16GB devices the ability to see everything in my much-bigger-than-16GB iTunes library, which means I can finally have full access to all the music on my desktop by hooking my iPhone to the speakers in the kitchen.
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Stuka87 - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
These things are all great, but what I *REALLY* want is a "Mark all items read" inside mail. I get my mail in several locations, so I don't always need to read them on my phone. But to clear out the count, I have to go and select each one, let it load, then move on to the next.But, maybe in iOS5!
Spoelie - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
Use IMAP instead of POP?aguilpa1 - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
Why else would they cut support to devices so quickly and release the ipad 2 so quickly behind the heels of the ipad 1? They see so many other manufactures working on dual core and even quad core devices that easily mimic or exceed the performance standards of their own devices and they have no choice. The problem is when you start pushing your development cycles up to try and stay relevant you risk pissing off the very people that support them. I have only one apple device which I bought against my better judgement (iphone 3G) and when they released the iOS that literally crippled my device I saw what they were doing. Upgrade to our new devices or we will break or make your old one useless. That is the one and only apple device I will ever purchase.chris1317 - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
Fragmentation :)lol it feels good to get some revenge
Regards
Eric Schmidt
bplewis24 - Thursday, March 10, 2011 - link
lol... in deed.strikeback03 - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
Yeah, I don't see why the article says this will prevent fragmentation. Users aren't going to get rid of those devices just because they don't support the newest OS version. I'm sure there will be plenty of 2nd gen iPod touches still in use a year from now, not sure how that wouldn't be fragmentation.Nevermind that even devices with the same OS version don't necessarily have the same capabilities. There seems to be more fragmentation than reviewers want to admit.
solipsism - Saturday, March 12, 2011 - link
You call one company that doesn’t give away its OS to any and all vendors and who updates their products on a yearly cycle “fragmentation”? Seriously?! Your ass probably bitches about Apple not updating more frequently as soon as some new component gets into a test phase or for not giving iOS away just so it can be fragmented across hundreds of devices that never see an update, unless iDevices that get 2.5-3 years of rich updates.mikael.skytter - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
Hello!As previously pointed out here, the scores for 3GS in 4.3 seems abit low.
My friend and I have 3GS phones, he has a 32Gb model and I have the 16 Gb model.
He got 5333.1 and I received 5479.1
We had just updated to 4.3 and had no other Safari windows open.
We also both have alot of applications installed so it´s not a "clean" phone.
I ran the sunspider benchmark twice yesterday with the 4.2.1 software to compare it to your results. The result were similar. Within ~35 on both runs.
The other scores, with the 4.3 software have also been re-run and we are 7-800 below you.
This opens up a question on how this phones were tested.
Is it possible for you to re-run the 4.3 benchmark on the 3GS phone?
philipus - Friday, March 11, 2011 - link
On my 16GB 3GS 4.3 seems faster. Safari is snappier, but also the OS interface seems perkier. 4.2 seemed a lowpoint on my phone. 4.1 was good. But 4.3 is much better.davidm71 - Monday, March 14, 2011 - link
Anyone test battery life improvements if any over previous iOs versions?