iOS4
June 27th, 2010 by Harry Sachz
As everyone knows, iOS4 had recently come out for the iphone prior to the iPhone4 launch. I tried my hand with the new software a few weeks back, and anyone who has been following my Twitter account, knows that I really don’t care for it much. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few really good additions, but a lot of the functionality they included are nothing in comparison to what us jailbreakers have had for a while now.
First off, folders are ridiculous. I love the idea of taking one app and sliding into another to create a folder, which is much better than the (free on Cydia) Categories implementation. With Categories the user must open up the application to add applications from within their named folders – which is more than a few buttons deep. Cumbersome, but well worth all the extra effort. Folders on iOS4 limits you to 12 apps in a folder. While it does its best to name the folder according to the applications that are found inside, I typically found myself opening three and four folders to find the application I was looking for. Even if you were able to find the application from the tiny icon that is displayed inside the folder, there are still 3 applications that are hidden if you have the folder maxed out at 12. Horrible implementation, but I see what they were trying to do there…
Secondly, multitasking. What the F… Yes, I know that applications are coming out with multitasking 4.0 updates and that Apple’s way of introduction multitasking saves a ton on battery life. That said, it doesn’t work. The multitask bar feels so limited. It would be different if users weren’t given the option of jailbreaking and using ProSwitcher or any other multitasking software available. We are comfortable with a higher standard of tools, and watching Apple push out their version of multitasking just makes me sad. Users that haven’t seen any other option will obviously love this, and will be the ones arguing for it.
The camera speed, new alphanumeric lock password, and giving users the ability to change the background wallpaper are welcome additions, but for the most part are severely underwhelming. It took me less than a week to get frustrated enough to go back to 3.1.3. Now I’m sitting comfortably with all my jailbroken apps and functionality I have grown accustomed to…
So the good news is that they’re working on updates for iOS4. Not only that, but you can view the changes live on a shared Google Doc (click pic or here). I am willing to move up to iOS4, and will be forced to when the new phone arrives, but only when I can get all the tools to work the way they should. The new phone may remain in it’s box until everything is sorted out (the hardware isn’t that much of an improvement that it blew my panties off). It’ll be interesting to see how much more development it takes to get there. Thankfully there are some incredibly smart and talented people working on it, like @saurik, @musclenerd, @iphone_dev, etc…
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