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First impressions of iOS 4.2 for iPad and iPhone

Give and take

First impressions of iOS 4.2 for iPad and iPhone
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In a statement released by Apple to celebrate the launch of iOS 4.2, Steve Jobs, in typically hyperbolic fashion, described how the latest update would make the iPad a ‘completely new product’.

But can a free update really transform a device in a completely new item like a Transformer? Join us as we take our ‘new’ iPads for a spin through iOS 4.2 country, and investigate if we can, in fact, now use it to make coffee.

Game Center, folders, and multitasking

Let’s tackle the three features that iPhone owners (well, most of them anyway) have been crowing about for the past few months – Game Center, multi-tasking, and folders.

Game Center is the most obvious of the three new additions, coming with its own app located on the first screen.

Despite being around for quite a few months now, Game Center is still underdeveloped when compared to rival OpenFeint, and its layout on the larger iPad screen isn’t exactly ideal.

Still, the range of games is always increasing, and they appear to have ironed out the most obvious bugs since it first launched

The second new feature you’re likely to come across is the addition of folders to the screens. Created by dragging an app on top of another, folders help keep the screen tidy if you’ve packed your iPad with apps.

It’s my favourite new addition, but the shine is somewhat dulled by the fact that my ageing iPod touch 2G has been able to do this for ages now.

The final iPhone feature to leap across the size divide, multi-tasking, is the hardest to see or accidentally stumble across during normal operations.

It's activated by double-tapping the 'home' button (told you it wasn’t obvious), whereupon all applications running and recently opened should appear in a taskbar that scoots up from the bottom of the screen.

It’s a great function that really helps when you need to check the internet for something while writing in Pages or Numbers. I do wish it’d show when an app is still running, and when an app is merely ‘recently opened’, though, as they are all currently displayed along the same bar.

Screen-locking, muting, and brightness

A less welcome alteration to normal operations has been the change to how screen-locking (or orientation-locking if you want to get fancy) has been redone for this new update.

Rather than flicking a switch on the side – the one specifically designed for locking the screen in place, just to stress the point – you now have to sweep left while in the taskbar (double-tap the middle button, remember) and touch the icon with the arrow bending around the screen.

The switch that previously performed this function is now a dedicated 'mute' button, which just doesn’t make much sense to me, considering there are two perfectly decent audio buttons below it. How often will you need to instantly mute something, I wonder?

There is one upshot of all this messing around in the taskbar – Apple has also seen fit to include a brightness slider alongside the rubbish screen-lock. It may seem like a small and insignificant detail, but it will really help boost the, already excellent battery life.

AirPrint and the two Finds

The big new feature for iPad owners is undoubtably the long-awaited AirPrint – a facility that allows users to print out documents directly through a wi-fi connection.

Unfortunately, AirPrint is currently supported by a very small selection of compatible HP printers. Being the owner of an ancient Epson, I was unable to try this function out, and no doubt the majority of other iPad owners will be in the same boat.

So that leaves just Find in Safari as the last major (and I use that term loosely in this case) feature from the iOS 4.2 update for iPad.

Performed by typing into the Google search box and looking down, Find lets you search for specific words on the page you’re viewing, as opposed to webpages related to the word that you aren’t yet viewing. I know – it blew my mind, too.

More interesting is the new MobileMe feature that was once part of the subscription service – Find My iPhone (or iPad, or iPod).

The setting up process is convoluted by Apple’s standards, but it does work fairly well if my wi-fi only iPad is connected to a network (otherwise it vanishes without a trace and is never seen again).

Conclusion

iOS 4.2 is very much an incremental update for most iOS users and won’t suddenly transform how you use your device, no matter what Steve says.

The most obvious beneficiaries are iPad owners, who can finally organise their apps without having to sweep through hundreds of screens, but even they receive a slap from the hand of Jobs in the form of a neutered screen orientation lock.

Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).