Official iPhone OS 4.0 Thread

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Since this will no doubt draw some attention just like iPad - Apple's unveiling the next version of iPhone OS tomorrow (10am PDT in the US), I'll post here once I have some idea of how this might impact future versions of Pleco.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Folders! At last, my hundred-and-some-odd application icons can have some order imposed on them.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Only Pleco-relevant thing so far is multitasking, though it's not yet clear whether that will allow for IMEs; it should at least allow for comparatively easy copy-and-pasting of words into a background-running copy of Pleco.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Well that's it - multitasking is the big thing among what they've listed, but there may be other equally-cool features beyond those seven; have to wait to see the developer preview (and then wait for someone else to violate their NDA by posting about it publicly) before I can comment on those. Hopefully within a day or so...
 

character

状元
From the OS 4.0 launch:
"We are releasing it for end users for iPhone and iPod touch for users this summer. For the 3GS and iPod touch 3rd gen. And, for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen, they will run many things... but there are some things they won't run, like multitasking."

"And, we're bringing OS 4 to the iPad this Fall."

That made me cancel my iPad order. My guess would be the current iPads (with that big screen to drive and 256MB) won't support multitasking. Daring Fireball said the iPad's having trouble keeping multiple browser windows active as it is.

With the various ways to multitask, I wonder if there's some way to have one app interact with another on the same device (perhaps over the network)? Could be some way for apps to talk to Pleco and get on the fly lookup/translation without all that cut/paste business, for ex.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Actually, at least from the description of multitasking I've read on the gadget blogs it doesn't sound like memory is the limiting factor for multitasking, but rather processor speed; most of what they're letting run in the background doesn't seem likely to be very memory-intensive. But the low-RAM issues on the iPad in general are significant enough that it certainly might be worth waiting until the second-gen model comes out to get one.

It doesn't sound like there's a system for inter-app communication yet; Apple are still very serious about the application "sandbox" idea, if apps are going to talk to each other they want to make sure they're doing so in a well-defined way that doesn't run the risk of a security breech. We could probably accommodate the copy without the paste at least - automatically look up the contents of the pasteboard when you return to Pleco, then go right back to where you left off in the other app - but that's still one more tap than our Instant Access system required, unfortunately.
 

character

状元
mikelove said:
But the low-RAM issues on the iPad in general are significant enough that it certainly might be worth waiting until the second-gen model comes out to get one.
Or at least there's little reason to get the high end model, which is what I had on order.
 

numble

状元
I love my iPad and it has replaced a lot of my web browsing needs and found new functionality as a recipe display in the kitchen, but I think 16gb is enough--unless you don't have a dedicated MP3 player already. I initially loaded it up with music and podcasts, but found I didn't need all that since I often will have a computer or MP3 player around to act as the music player. I occasionally download the odd podcast to listen to on the iPad though.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Definitely agree on that - 16 GB is a LOT of apps / books, the only real reason to get a bigger iPad would be if you want to carry around lots and lots of videos (entire seasons of TV shows, say). But assuming you have a regular computer of your own, I think the iPad completely eliminates the need for a netbook - they're only marginally better for composing text than the iPad's touchscreen, and not as good at it as your average Bluetooth keyboard (which combined with an iPad would probably still weigh less / take up less space).

One other nice little thing in OS 4.0 that's now been blabbed about publicly: the send-email-from-within-your-app function has been extended to SMS too, so while reading SMSes will most likely still require copy-and-paste, it should be possible to compose and send them without ever leaving Pleco. And it appears the new document transfer feature from iPad has indeed been extended to iPhone OS, so as of this summer it should finally be possible to install / activate Pleco add-ons over USB without needing an internet connection on your device.
 

ciaocibai

进士
I'm kinding of thinking iPad V2 will come out around fall as well, with integrated camera and upgraded internals... Otherwise, why are they waiting till fall to release it?... Anyway, just my thoughts. It certainly has put me off buying an iPad now though. Time for a new mac first anyway.

Mike, you are right about multitasking and folders being two big things. Of course, with my jailbroken device, I already have both of those features. Apple was a little late to this party, but better late than never! The multitasking looks pretty interesting as it seems to run a scaled down version of the app in the background rather than the whole thing. Or at least that’s the impressions I've got from the coverage I've seen.
 

character

状元
ciaocibai said:
I'm kinding of thinking iPad V2 will come out around fall as well, with integrated camera and upgraded internals... Otherwise, why are they waiting till fall to release it?...

This is speculation, but I agree with it, as far as it goes:
Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0 Event Starts in 30 Minutes
"iPhone OS 4.0 will only be for the iPhone and iPod Touch, not the iPad. The iPad, like any such project at Apple was developed by a team that was locked away in secrecy, so the team working on iPhone OS 4.0 only found out about the iPad when the rest of us did, on January 27; Dalrymple has it exactly right: OS 4.1 will be the unified OS for all these devices."

But since Gruber is a fanboy he's not pointed out in a later post what you and I think is likely. If the current iPad was going to support multitasking with OS 4.x, why the careful phrasing from Steve Jobs when he announced it?

I'm still inclined to get a V1 iPad, as I've really not missed multitasking on my iPod Touch. But it would be quickly relegated to a test device/bathroom computer, so no point in getting a high-end model.
 

radioman

状元
I use multi-tasking all the time on my 3Gs iPhone and there are many cool things that can be done with it. I have not placed my iPad order yet, but I figure when I land in the U.S. I will get one, and would give it away as a gift or something.

I am curious to how the memory management / handling of the iPad stacks up against the 3GS. I am using the 3GS and there is a lot more memory headroom for the 3Gs compared to the 3G.

character said:
I'm still inclined to get a V1 iPad, as I've really not missed multitasking on my iPod Touch. But it would be quickly relegated to a test device/bathroom computer, so no point in getting a high-end model.
 

ciaocibai

进士
Bathroom computer? Seems you don't rate the iPad that highly :? Hehe. Gruber is a hardcore fanboy, and he seems to tear everyone who disagrees with him to shreds. Not to say I don't enjoy his writing from time to time, but you are right that he sometimes misses/chooses to ignore what's in front of him.

Radioman, if you feel like giving away iPads as gifts, just come find me. I'd love to receive one ;-) I'd even shout you some fine beers in return. How's that for a sweet deal?
 

numble

状元
The 7 processes that can multitask don't seem that RAM-intensive, there would be an uproar if the iPad didn't multitask.

ciaocibai: Apple follows a pretty strict release schedule for their mobile devices, I don't expect 2 to be in the fall.

June/Summer:iPhone
September/Fall: iPod

iPad looks to fit into their spring release schedule.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Having read more descriptions of multitasking in forums etc, I actually think it may be more RAM-intensive than I originally thought. The three official categories of app that can keep running in the background, navigation, VoIP, and audio streaming, can all be pretty light on RAM (well, the last two anyway - with navigation it depends), but the fast-switching, put-an-app-on-ice-and-return-to-it-right-away multitasking for other apps would eat up a lot of RAM. And the iPad is in inherently worse shape in that regard because all of those graphical effects / layer blends / etc on iPhone mean there are a lot of copies of things on the screen being stored in RAM; a 1024x768 uncompressed image with an alpha channel is 3 MB, so it doesn't take too many of those to make a dent in the not-particularly-large portion of the system's memory that's reserved for application use.

That being said, the iPad seems to be able to open up a fully-loaded copy of Pleco in under a second, so once we've got a few more updates under our belt and we're at a point where we can perfectly restore the previous application state on reopen, you may not find you miss multitasking on it much for Pleco at least.
 
Top