If you have an older iPhone model and are not yet sold whether or not you want an iPhone 4, you can simply choose to try out the perks of the new operating system. Anyone who has an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS will be able to try out the iOS 4 platform, straight out of the oven.
Even those who have current generation iPod Touch devices can get a sneak peak of how good (or buggy) the iOS 4 platform runs by simply downloading it from iTunes. Developers who have had the privilege to try out build 8A293 will recognize the final release. It looks like after all the tests, Apple was unable to find anything that needs drastic changing.
While owners of older units will not be able to enjoy functions such as multitasking, customized home screen wallpapers or the Bluetooth keyboard functionality, there are still added features to make it worth the download.
For example, the mail system can now recognize snippets that refer to events or tracking information for your parcels. These work automatically so you will not need to scramble for the details just to write them on your schedule. For example, your niece’s birthday party is at 12:00 NN on Saturday, the mail program detects this and opens a dialogue box asking you if you would like to set this event or appointment on your Calendar app. This way, you will not need to manually manage anything and you can save it in your appointments as soon as you receive the details.
As for managing your parcels, the mail system automatically recognizes your package’s tracking number and provides you a clickable link which opens a page in the Safari browser.
These may not be shocking changes but they are quite handy to have around. At the very least, these improvements prove that Apple is listening to what their fans are asking for.
Tags: Apple, Apple-iOS-4, Apple-iPhone, Apple-iPhone-3G-S, Apple-iPhone-4, Bluetooth