Apple's iOS 4 Explored
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 22, 2010 3:27 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- iOS 4
- Gadgets
- Mobile
iPod App Changes
The majority of the iPod functionality of iOS remains unchanged. In fact, superficially the application’s appearance is the same as it was in iOS 3. The notable new feature here is the ability to finally create custom playlists on the fly without resorting to “on-the-go” playlists introduced with the 4th gen iPod - back before the age of touch screens. Honestly, I could never figure this feature out, so it’s nice to see real playlist creation coming.
In the playlists tab, in the list of playlists, sits “add playlist.”
Clicking that brings up a creation name dialog box, and now you can start adding songs from your library into the playlist.
You can add virtually anything just by tapping the blue plus symbol, just like you’d expect from a real playlist anywhere else. Tap done, and it’s now a playlist which will sync back and forth across iTunes.
Tapping on the playlist you’ve created brings up the songs, videos, or media inside, where you can then edit, clear, or delete the playlist. Deletion and reordering is just like you’d expect it to be; delete with the red alert sign, reorder by dragging on the traction strip.
Control Changes
Of course, since iOS 4 brings multitasking, Apple had sacrifice one input gesture method for another to get you out of apps and into the task tray. Double tapping on the home button brings up a list of recently run applications and pushes your active window up. Swipe left in this list of apps, and you’ll be at the new iPod control interface.
The rightmost icon is the application which has current control of the audio stack; in this case, iPod. However, run Pandora Radio’s iOS aware application, and it’ll change to Pandora as expected.
The controls work just like you’d expect, including next and previous track, and pause.
Rotation lock is at far left, and is a carryover from its hardware toggle switch analog on the iPad. What’s puzzling, however, is that rotation lock only locks you in portrait mode. In fact, it seems as though iOS 4 intends you to only multitask in portrait mode, as bringing up the app switching tray in landscape results in the following:
Which is decidedly un-Apple given the garish combination of portrait icons plus titles, and landscape application UI here. Maybe in time Apple will make the icons rotate.
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rallstarz - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
Forgive me for peeking at your email Anand, but I'd be excited about a fro-yo review on anandtech.... maybe fro-yo making machines, fro-yo flash freezers, fro-yo dispensers...Stuka87 - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
Over all I like the upgrade. My phone feels more snapping in several areas (3GS). However, I have two big issues.1: In Mail, I want a "Mark All Read" option. I tgets *SO* old having to go through 30-40 emails because I read them on another device. Not an issue with my Exchange mail, but is a major issue with my POP3 mail.
2: I wish I could exclude some apps from multi tasking. Because now I find myself running 4-5 apps at the same time. And most of them are apps that don't need two. Like weather, or calculator. I would love it if I could say "Dont ever multi-task this app". The same could be applied to some games.
metafor - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
"We still need faster SoCs and more power efficient platforms to make multitasking work on smartphones. I say faster SoCs because one of the best ways to improve power efficiency is to complete tasks quicker so that the CPU can return to an idle state.Because current smartphone SoCs don’t have the level of performance needed to quickly execute a ton of extra instructions and get back to sleep, smartphone OSes have to keep background tasks to a minimum. For the most part you don’t have to worry about what applications you have open on your notebook, your CPU is efficient enough and you have enough battery power to churn through any instructions idle apps may be throwing at it. We’re not quite there yet in smartphones."
I'm afraid this isn't true. The only difference between a netbook processor and a smartphone processor is that the former is running off of a relatively honking battery. Having the CPU "finish the task faster" is absolutely not a power advantage.
Let's break down the 2 main areas of power usage for a CPU:
1. Leakage. Here, you can make the argument that if a CPU is active longer, it suffers more total energy that is leaked between VDD and GND. However, this is almost entirely offset and in most cases overshadowed by the fact that a faster CPU (running either at a higher frequency, has more parallel execution resources, or runs on faster transistors) will always be significantly leakier than their slower counterparts. Leakage increases with the square of voltage and as everyone will tell you, when a CPU ramps up in frequency, it will scale up its voltage.
2. Dynamic current. This only gets worse at faster frequencies. Whether you're charging/discharging 500 million times a second (500MHz) or 1 billion times a second (1GHz), the same tasks requires the same number of charges/discharges whether it happens in 1 second or 2 seconds. The same amount of energy to perform the work is used. However, as mentioned before, to make a chip run faster, you'll have to also up the voltage and/or use leakier (but faster) transistors.
In fact, the argument for dual-core being more power efficient is that in the case where 2 cores running at 500MHz doing the same amount of work (assuming you're running, say, 2 tasks that would otherwise be context switched in the same CPU) as 1 core at 1 GHz, the 2-core solution would draw less power since a core running at 500MHz uses less than half the power of a 1GHz core.
You are absolutely right in that the limitations of multitasking has to due with power efficient CPU's and it is a compelling argument for multi-core cell phone SoC's and perhaps even heterogeneous multi-core SoC's. Luckily, we'll be seeing those soon enough in the next year or so.
Matt Campbell - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
Angry Birds is a great game - but why do you have both the Lite and Full version installed in the screen shot? :)So far, my biggest likes of iOS4 are the responsiveness (3GS definitely feels faster) and the email threads, which really help on my Exchange account. I read a lot of eBooks on Stanza and will probably stick with that for the short term.
SunSamurai - Friday, June 25, 2010 - link
Because he tried it before he buyed it? ;)Polizei - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
I love that Anand is bumpin the 50 cent during his Iphone interview. Funny choice :Dsynaesthetic - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
Anyone know if these ads show up on the iPod touch 3G upgraded to iOS 4?If so I probably won't buy a Touch...
I don't understand why *anyone* would prefer ads to paying more for software. Seriously, it's not worth it to me. TV commercials are bad enough.
SunSamurai - Friday, June 25, 2010 - link
You dont understand why people dont want to spend money when they dont have to?jasperjones - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
tbh, I somewhat doubt it...jay401 - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
iAds will probably be enough to keep me from getting the new iPhone to replace my current cell phone. i just don't trust Apple with that sort of power over my user experience.i dont want ads interrupting and distracting me from my task. i want to get my chosen task done efficiently and quickly.
"If it wanted to Apple could even sell ads in books."
Yes, if Apple wanted customers to drive to Cupertino to punch the iAds team directly in the face.