The new iPhone operating system iOS4 has been released by Apple for download in iTunes. Here are things you should start doing with it straight away.
Create folders
If you've got screens and screens of apps on your iPhone, you can group them together in folders.
Just press and hold an app icon until it starts jigging and drag it onto another app you want in the same folder.
A folder will be automatically created (pic on right) and it will choose its own name based on the apps inside, like,err, Games or whatever. You can change the name if you want. And you can add other apps by, you've guessed it, making them jiggle and dragging them onto the folder.
To get apps out of a folder...open it, make the app jiggle and drag it out. When the last app is dragged out, the folder disappears.
Change your wallpaper
Head on over to Settings...Wallpaper...and choose the image you want. There are pre-installed ones, or you can choose from your own pics. You then get the choice of having that pic on your Homescreen or Lockscreen or both.
Multitasking
This is a long-time moan of iPhone users. Why can't you have apps running in the background? If I'm playing a game and an SMS message comes in, why can't I keep the game open and have a quick look at the message at the same time.
Well, now you can.
Double clicking your Home Button will bring up a hidden dock (pic on right) containing all your running apps. Tap each icon to switch between apps.
But, be warned: Apple is only allowing certain kinds of apps to run in the background and apps will have to be updated to cope with this. So it may not all work all the time immediately!
Single mailbox (if you want)
This is a godsend if you're running more than one email account on your phone.
You can look at "All Inboxes" (pic on right) on one screen. Go into Mail, tap on the arrow thingie on the top left that lets you see your email accounts, and tap "All Inboxes".
If you create a new email from this box, it will be sent from your default mail address.
You can go back to your accounts and click each one separately if you want.
Get iBooks
Go to the App Store and download iBooks. There's a version for the iPhone iOS4 (pic on right).
It's really meant for the sooper-dooper new screen on the iPhone 4 but lots of people are finding reading books on their lesser iPhone ok.
Oh, and you get Winnie the Pooh for free...
Camera
There are new things in the iPhone camera in iOS4. You can now "tap to focus" for both the stills camera and the camcorder and there's a 5X digital zoom for stills.
You'll also see new folders in your photo albums for Events and Places. The phone will put pics in these based on geotagging.
And finally.....
These are by no means the only changes, there are lots and lots and lots more. But these will keep you going for a bit. Oh and some - like multitasking - won't work on the iPhone 3G. But they'll all work on the 3GS.
Make sure all your apps are up-to-date in iTunes. You'll need those updates to make things like multitasking work.
Create folders
If you've got screens and screens of apps on your iPhone, you can group them together in folders.Just press and hold an app icon until it starts jigging and drag it onto another app you want in the same folder.
A folder will be automatically created (pic on right) and it will choose its own name based on the apps inside, like,err, Games or whatever. You can change the name if you want. And you can add other apps by, you've guessed it, making them jiggle and dragging them onto the folder.
To get apps out of a folder...open it, make the app jiggle and drag it out. When the last app is dragged out, the folder disappears.
Change your wallpaper
Head on over to Settings...Wallpaper...and choose the image you want. There are pre-installed ones, or you can choose from your own pics. You then get the choice of having that pic on your Homescreen or Lockscreen or both.
Multitasking
This is a long-time moan of iPhone users. Why can't you have apps running in the background? If I'm playing a game and an SMS message comes in, why can't I keep the game open and have a quick look at the message at the same time.Well, now you can.
Double clicking your Home Button will bring up a hidden dock (pic on right) containing all your running apps. Tap each icon to switch between apps.
But, be warned: Apple is only allowing certain kinds of apps to run in the background and apps will have to be updated to cope with this. So it may not all work all the time immediately!
Single mailbox (if you want)
This is a godsend if you're running more than one email account on your phone.
You can look at "All Inboxes" (pic on right) on one screen. Go into Mail, tap on the arrow thingie on the top left that lets you see your email accounts, and tap "All Inboxes".
If you create a new email from this box, it will be sent from your default mail address.
You can go back to your accounts and click each one separately if you want.
Get iBooks
Go to the App Store and download iBooks. There's a version for the iPhone iOS4 (pic on right).
It's really meant for the sooper-dooper new screen on the iPhone 4 but lots of people are finding reading books on their lesser iPhone ok.
Oh, and you get Winnie the Pooh for free...
Camera
There are new things in the iPhone camera in iOS4. You can now "tap to focus" for both the stills camera and the camcorder and there's a 5X digital zoom for stills.
You'll also see new folders in your photo albums for Events and Places. The phone will put pics in these based on geotagging.
And finally.....
These are by no means the only changes, there are lots and lots and lots more. But these will keep you going for a bit. Oh and some - like multitasking - won't work on the iPhone 3G. But they'll all work on the 3GS.
Make sure all your apps are up-to-date in iTunes. You'll need those updates to make things like multitasking work.
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