iPhone OS 4.0: Here’s the Details (Summer 2010) [Video Walkthrough]

Today, Apple held an event in Cupertino, to go over the next iPhone operating system, 4.0. Although, we could not be there, Engadget could. They always do a great job of covering these events, and we’d like to thank them for the photos and details.

So, what’s 4.0 all about? Well, let’s get into it.

Predictions were, that we would see multitasking, unified inbox for the Mail app, wireless syncing, new home screen, new lock screen, among others. One of my predictions was that the original iPhone would left behind, with this update. So, which predictions were right? What was unexpected? here’s what we found out today.

Apple announced over 100 new features are coming to 4.0. New dock, change wallpaper on homescreen, tap to focus for video, 5X digital zoom for the camera, Places added to photos, iPod out, search in Messages app, Wake on Wireless, Persistent WiFi, and tons more. We don’t really know what all these mean yet, but let’s talk about what we do know, and what we thought was exciting.

Multitasking

The first big one is Multitasking. Finally coming to the iPhone, will be the ability to run 3rd party apps in the background. Apple justified the long wait for this feature by saying, they are the only ones to do it right. It will be left up to developers to add this feature to their apps, as the mutltitasking APIs will be included in the new SDK. Multitasking will be controlled be a cool pop up dock, that you open by double clicking the home button. You scroll through all your open apps, and switch between them as you see fit. Similar to some Backgrounder switching apps, found in Cydia.

They showed off a few different APIs for backgrounding. It would seem that not the entire app will run in the background, but only key parts. The apps they showed off were Pandora and Skype. There are seven API’s for backgrounding, in total. We’ll see how app developers use these, in the coming months. Multitasking will ONLY work on iPhone 3GS and the 3rd gen iPod Touch, at firts, and then will come to the iPad in the fall.

Folders

The next big thing is “Folders”. If you’re fimiliar with the jailbreak app “Categories” you already know what this is. You can create folders on your homescreen and put multiple apps in them. You can have separate folders for Games, Utilities, or whatever you want. “I want to make a folder with games in it. I have several games, so I just push my finger on an app, they start to jiggle, and I just drag one app on top of another and it instantly makes a folder. It also automatically names the folder based on the categories of these apps, or I can rename.”, said Steve Jobs. The new icon then shows a collection of smaller icons, so that you know what’s in each folder. This greatly increases the amount of apps you can have on your device from 180 to 2160!

Enhanced Mail App

Some great new changes to the Mail app. Unified inbox puts all you mail in one inbox. Personally, I have about 8 different email accounts on my iPhone, and it’s a pain to keep backing out of the inbox to get to a different account. This is a much needed change to the Mail app. You are also now able to add multiple Exchange accounts, organize mail by thread, and a new “Open with” feature that allows you to opens attachments with a 3rd party app.

Gaming Center

Apple is amping up their competion with other mobile gaming platforms by adding a “XBOX Live” type of experience. Acheivments, social networking, leaderboards, matchmaking, invite friends. This is very cool! Just what I’ve thought my iPhone gaming experience was missing!

iAd

Apple introduced their new advertising platform, iAd. Rather than just boring links to websites, Apple has developed fully interactive Ads, to be included in apps. If you tap on an ad, you could see a video, a game, or anything, really. All built in HTLM5. Steve showed off a great ad for Toy Story 3, which included poster that you could ad as your wallpaper, interactive games, movie previews, and more. This is pretty exciting for advertisers and the “advertisees”, as well.

So, those are the big ones. Also coming to iPhone 4.0 is iBooks, the popular ebook reader for iPad, and some great enhancements to Enterpirse. iPhone OS 4.0 is coming this summer, but developers get a special preview SDK today! It will be available for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2g and 3g, and iPad. iPhone 3G and iPod 2g will not get multitasking, and it looks like the original iPhone and iPod Touch will not be supported with this update.

It would seem that Apple is really trying to satisfy the jailbreakers out there, by beating them at their own game. I gotta admit, there are a lot of cool features in this update that could make me update right away, and not worry about jailbreaking.

So, what are your thoughts? Anything in 4.0 you don’t want? Anything missing?

[UPDATE] Engadget and 9to5Mac posts a hands on video. Watch below: