At Cupertino, CA, Apple’s Headquarters, Apple has released a large update involving the upcoming operating system update for the iPhone. The biggest update is great for everyone who enjoys to play games on their iPhone, like me.
The first feature they have included and one of the biggest is called Game Center which will be a social gaming network much like Xbox live is today. I liken it to Xbox Live because Game Center will be including an achievement system much like the Xbox 360. It will also include various leaderboards, friends lists, matchmaking, and even the ability to invite friends to whichever app you are currently playing in Game Center.
Another new feature announced is Multitasking. This is definitely good news because from what has been released; you will now be able to seamlessly transfer your screen between at least 4 different currently used at the same time. However though don’t get your hopes up too high, because at the moment the only things that can truly be multitasked are Audio, voice over IP, location tracking, push notification, local notification, task completion and fast App switching. So overall the feature may help you play an application while talking to someone on the phone easier, but it wasn’t extremely complicated in the first place. Though the ability to switch quickly between two apps on the fly will at least speed up transfer rate and save battery life from excessive loading.
A handy feature being released as well is one that pretty much all computer users know and love; Folders. OS4 will allow users to create folders to place various applications or other information in at a time. This way you can cluster together all your RPG games in one folder, all the various tool applications like the handy flashlight into one easy to find area as opposed to navigating screens full of apps.
They’ve also made a universal mailbox, effectively just making it so that every e-mail address you supply inside the iPhone will cluster into one mailbox at once, such as Yahoo, MSN, etc. Plus a few new ad programs that will be incorporated into certain apps.
Overall the updates are good news, though some less than others. The Game Center appears to be the highlight of this announcement, however what about games that are already using leader boards or achievements based off of current companies such as Crystal and Open Feint? Will these no longer be able to be supported or will they still be able to work with current apps that use them. Only time will tell.
For the iPhone and iTouch the OS4 will be released this summer. For the iPad the release comes a bit later in the fall of this year. iPhone 3G and iTouch second generation will not be able to use every update listed by Apple, but they will be able to utilize most. iPhone 3GS and the latest generation if iTouches will have no problem.
What’re your thoughts on this upcoming update? Anything catch your eyes?
