Papa Smurf and the 4th OS
Yesterday, Apple released iOS4 for the iPhone and several generations of the iPod. I hooked up to iTunes and downloaded the latest update last night. I can say that once completed, which took about 5-10 minutes, I was glued to my iPhone for about the next hour :) The update is awesome. New features like folders and multitasking are done very well and are super easy to implement. I think this is something that continues to impress me with Apple products. The UI design of Apple software and operating systems are impeccable and certainly are tailored for the customers ease of use. The new camera zoom feature is nice along with the ability to designate different background wallpaper for your home screen and main menu screens. Actually, this little wallpaper feature is one of my favorite new additions. May sound silly, but having a picture of my choosing in both places is really cool. I think my other favorite new features is app-switching (a.k.a. multitasking) for applications like Pandora. Now I have the ability to continue listening to my internet radio music and switch over to check a message or email and use the iPod music controls to move to the next song or pause. I’m finding new little things here and there as I continue to use the updated OS. I haven’t found much I don’t like yet.
It was also brought to my attention today that with this latest update, Apple additionally made an update to its iTunes privacy policy, inserting a new section which describes that by accepting the new policy, the user agrees to allow Apple and third-party applications to collect specific location information, as CNET describes in more detail, to enhance application services along with marketing and advertising research, of course. The privacy policy update is a little disconcerting, however, as a user I have the ability to deny any applications from sharing my location information at anytime. In my opinion, this is a much better approach than Facebook has taken. Apple has ensured that I have control when a service is using my information, rather than Facebook deciding for me. Now, this is assuming that all of the information that is being reported back has been expressed by Apple. Still though, I guess this is the internet, so I can’t complain too much :P
On another note, here’s an intriguing trailer for next summer…