back to article Apple to reveal hallowed iPhone 4.0 on Thursday

Apple will uncloak a new incarnation of its iPhone operating system on Thursday morning during an event at its Cupertino headquarters. According to CNet, the Jobsian cult sent invitations to certain members of the media on Monday morning that said it would be providing "a sneak peek into the future of the iPhone OS." But The …

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  1. Aaron 10
    Dead Vulture

    Fanbois?

    Is the author a 12-year-old child? C'mon. I visit The Reg for tech news, not 1337 h@x0R 5p33k.

    1. Habeeb
      Thumb Down

      Agreed

      I get it that the author likes Windows/Linux.

      I also get that he/she might think that Apple hardware is over-priced an don't offer value for their money.

      But why would a site like the Reg deliberately slag a section of their viewers by propogating biased and childish language like this?

      I'm a PC guy, btw. And my 1st was an XT :)

    2. Tim Cook
      Dead Vulture

      Boring, isn't it

      Slam the company all you like, but the constant fanboi references, "Jobsian cult", the inference that people bought ipads just because Steve told them too - that's just insulting the users, from the genuine Mac fan right down to anyone who so much as bought an iPod. Which is, let's face it, most people these days.

      Point out what's wrong with Apple by all means, but if all you can do is resort to name-calling a significant portion of your readership, maybe it's time for a rethink on that.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        well duh...

        "the inference that people bought ipads just because Steve told them too - that's just insulting the users"

        But the people that did go out and buy an Ipad on its day of release have done just that... they fell for the marketing blurb and went out and got one....

        Most sensible people on deciding that they want to spend some dosh on a product, first convince the missus they really need a particular category of item, lets say for arguments sake a small form-factor portable computing device, capable of connecting to the tinterwebby, comms to both home and office, entertainment and the rest of it....

        after the missus agrees that it is ok for you to spend the money she wants to spend on her new hair style, nails, dress, shoes or bag... go and make sure you get the best device for your needs. you make this decision on prioritising your needs and making sure the device meets all those needs... reading reviews, reading about how it performs in the real world, what drawbacks or annoyances....

        then and only then do you hand over your hard earned cash for your shiny new toy... if said toy does not ultimately do as you require, it will probably end up in the same draw tha the missus shoes/bag or dress would end up in.... and then the nagging would begin.... "see... you don’t use it do you??"

        how anyone can go out and buy a item on its day of release is beyond me... why not wait until at least the second release of fw updates and/or v2 of hardware.... wait until people have actually used them for a few weeks and give a realistic report...

        Apple had only given early release machines to reviewers that will give a positive spin on the item... real world reviewers had to wait until its official release date....

        mines the one with the empty pocket because the ipad wont fit in it....

      2. Stone Fox
        Flame

        grow a sense of humour please.

        This is el reg, they insult EVERYONE!

        Ok, so you think 'jobsian cult' is insulting, can I assume you also object to 'mountain view chocolate factory' as refering to google as a firm full of ooma loompas could also be construed as offensive to google fanbois?

        The reporting is at least reasonably impartial and normally downright amusing which is something the IT press really needs so please, if you want your reporting completely politically correct, non-offensive and humour free piss of to ZDnet.

    3. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Stop

      Oh..

      FFS... STFU pR00d...

      This is El Reg!111!!!eleven!!one

      Seriously, It's hardly The Sunday Times...

  2. Rolf Howarth

    Not got your invite?

    Oh dear, someone at The Register sounds a bit peeved they weren't invited.

    Remember, this is just a preview for developers announcing a new SDK. The software itself won't be released until the summer. No need to get yourselves in a tizzy.

    1. Rattus Rattus

      It's been a long-running joke

      that El Reg is never invited to Apple's soirees. I think one of the hacks offended His Steveness at one, or something. Peed in a potted plant, possibly.

      1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

        Nah..

        .. probably punctured the Reality Distortion Field surrounding Steve Jobs.

        He doesn't like people pointing out that the Emperor only wears a roll neck sweater :-)

        I think there are enough fan sites, I prefer a slightly more critical appraisal a la El Reg. That Apple banned them tells me a lot more about Apple. If OSX wasn't such a good platform I wouldn't move to it - I despise waffle based marketing with a high BS saturation level. That's also why I dislike MS - that's one thing they share.

  3. Adam T
    Go

    About time

    One less thing for the angry mob to complain about. Fret thee not though, they can still complain about (the absence of) Flash, removable batteries, USB and SSD slots, and soon the iPad/iPhone forums will be filled with people complaining about their devices running slowly, instability and diminished battery life.

    1. Gilbo

      Isn't it.

      One less thing for the angry, nerdy mob to complain about. Outside of the pimply tech community and the media few people give a shit.

      But they will give a shit when their already crap battery life halves and they have to spend most of their time managing some kind of task manager to figure out why.

      Oh but Android does it! Well, the only people I've met who own Android devices are a) nerds, b) the same kind of twats who'll battle against the forces of hell with Ubuntu for six weeks to bring it up to the functional level of Windows XP and c) always moaning about their shit battery life.

      Thanks guys, really needed this. Why not do us all a favour and just f**k off back to your tweak town alcove. The rest of us are quite happy with what we've got.

      1. Daniel B.
        Boffin

        Yeah, right.

        Because you don't need to copy that stuff from Excel into that e-mail you're sending. Or use the calculator while sending an SMS. Or having some app open, take a pic and return to the app.

        Things that my BlackBerry can manage, but the Jobsian gadget still is unable to do. Regular users may not care about this stuff, but *smartphone* users expect to have these features on their smartphones. This is one of the reasons the iPhone is still seen by many as an overpriced toy phone.

        1. David Biggins
          Thumb Down

          No, Wrong

          "Because you don't need to copy that stuff from Excel into that e-mail you're sending. Or use the calculator while sending an SMS. Or having some app open, take a pic and return to the app."

          I can do all those things on my iPhone - none of them need multi-tasking. Perhaps use that Blackberry to look up exactly what multi-tasking means?

        2. Jean-Paul

          Ignorance is bliss

          Well obviously you have never used an iPhone and have no understanding on what you actually need multi-tasking for DANIEL B. Unbelievable now we need to multi-tasking to copy from a spreadsheet into email. So what processing is that spreadsheet supposed to do when you focus on the mail app?

          Learn what multi-tasking is first before commenting with populist untruths...

          Sure, yes if you said you wanted to listen to spotify in an open browser window in the background whilst copying stuff from your spreadsheet to email you may have a point. Apple hasn't allowed that . But you can always put you music into the built-in iPod and listen to that ;-) Whilst copying from your spreadsheet into your email....Something that was possible for a very long time...

        3. Tim Cook
          Troll

          Rot

          You've described nothing that even my old iPhone 3G can't do with ease - copy and paste between apps is flawless, switching between SMS and the calculator takes a second (in fact these two built-in apps actually do multitask AFAIK) and yes - SMS opens back up with your message still there to be sent. Going from any app to the camera and back is equally easy - some apps start back up where you left them, almost all autosave any work, and pretty much any app that actually uses photos will have the camera interface built into it anyway, thus negating the whole "issue".

          The vast majority of people complaining about the lack of multitasking on the iPhone are exactly like you - nerds who have not, and will never use one, because of some blind hatred of the brand or the very notion of a popular smartphone that ordinary people can and do use productively. You see everything in terms of spec and have no real understanding of the functionality and how any of these things are actually used in real life, which is exactly why you don't and won't ever get it.

          I hope if Apple do implement third-party multitasking, they can do it in a way that doesn't detract from the overall ease-of-use/performance combo, otherwise it's score one for a small army of nerds who were never going to buy the iPhone in the first place, and a real loss for everyone else - you know, those millions of "smartphone users" who actually own, use, and are immensely satisfied* with their "toy phone" as it is thank you.

          * Just check the JD Power surveys. Then read them again.

        4. Giles Jones Gold badge

          Excel?

          It has cut n paste so can paste text from any application into an email.

          Why on earth would someone want to do all that stuff on their personal phone anyway? a phone is for keeping in touch with people, not dorky business stuff.

      2. Greg J Preece

        Errr...

        "battle against the forces of hell with Ubuntu for six weeks to bring it up to the functional level of Windows XP "

        From my experience, the only task required to bing Ubuntu *beyond* the functional level of XP is to stick the live CD in the tray...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Errr errr

          "From my experience, the only task required to bing Ubuntu *beyond* the functional level of XP is to stick the live CD in the tray..."

          .. until you try to use anything beyond the desktop and discover you're back in text file hacking land where other distro's have had GUIs for years. If OpenSuSE were capable of actually putting a WiFi GUI together that worked and could set a default route properly I wouldn't even go near Ubuntu..

          However, as I'm about to use OSX I suspect that will also yield plenty of disappointment. I hope MySQL and Apache are easy to set up, or via Bitnami or something. We'll see.

          1. Poor Coco
            Thumb Up

            MySQL and Apache on OS X...

            ...Apache's there right out of the box. MySQL installation is also a breeze.

            For even simpler installations, or to have multiple installs with different configurations, MAMP kicks ass.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Coffee/keyboard

          battle of the os's

          "From my experience, the only task required to bing Ubuntu *beyond* the functional level of XP is to stick the live CD in the tray..."

          Sorry, i have to dissagree....

          it took me several days to get my Acer Aspire 1 AOA150 to play ball with ubuntu NBR 9.10. Wifi is still shitty under heavy load, but i eventually got the fan to stfu.. then an update broke it again, and then took me a few more days to fix it again.... who would have thought "000" would cause so much noise...

          Dont get me wrong, I love ubuntu on my netbook, much better than windows and wouild never go back.

          If you are building a new machine and spec all the componants based on good linux support, then you will have no problems. else, expect to go grey and balld a lot earlier than you wanted to....

          or install XP...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Apple Way Behind

    While Android strolls past with features Skeletor seems to be fumbling again for a something new for his 'bois.

    1. Tim Cook

      Strolls?

      Trips over its own fragmented shoe-laces more like.

  5. Richard Cartledge
    Happy

    Backgrounder

    I have the classic iPhone 2G which is 2.5 years old, and it multitasks flawlessly using the Backgrounder available through Cydia. I leave Yahoo! messenger on 24/7 and listen to Radio Javan while surfing RSS new in the bath. You can set whether specific apps background or not in it's Prefs, and also toggle by holding the Home button. You press the Hone button to Quit as usual or hold for a second until "Backgrounding Enabled" appears, it then runs in the background with a gearwheel badge on the homescreen's icon. It's the best thing since SCSI Probe.

    1. jai

      SCSI Probe?

      oh my, now there's a whole flood of nostalgia

      such innocent happy days of my youth, in what seems now like a forgotten age

      sniff

    2. da_fish27
      FAIL

      You see...

      ... while your device is obviously absolutely awesome, I'll just get my android phone which can do exactly the same, without any cracking.

      1. Craig Mulvaney
        FAIL

        erm....

        is that the same Android device that you can't take a screenshot with or bluetooth files on without "cracking"?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Craig Mulvenny

          Not really wanting to get involved in this ever so exciting flame war so I'll just add a NPOV point of order.

          Android can in fact transfer files via Bluetooth (OBEX) and do a lot of other bluetooth stuff and you can take screenshots without "cracking" (rooting) the phone - and I don't mean by using a digital camera to take a picture of it. You can also take moving screenshots as well. Has been able to since the first dev phone.

          ..anyway carry on.

      2. chr0m4t1c
        FAIL

        So what?

        The point was that the OS is capable of it, despite the manufacturer's worries about battery life and stability.

        If you still have it when it's two and a half years old do come back and tell us all how you're getting on loading whatever the latest version of Andoid is.

        2.5 years ago most of the multi-tasking phones I ever had the misfortune to use did it very badly. I think Apple were probably right to leave the feature out until they understood their place in the market more. Granted, they probably should have got it into they device last year, but we know now that they were almost certainly working on the iPad branch of the OS and probably trying not to take it too far from the iPhone.

        TBH I can see people ribbing you about a fragmented Android in a year or two, so get ready. You might want to have a look at Gnome vs KDE for the desktop or RedHat vs Debian for package management to see what may be in store.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      re:It's the best thing since SCSI Probe.

      i so miss scsi probe

    4. Campbeltonian

      Hold gesture

      ...and I really hope that Apple follow Backgrounder's lead and use a 'hold' gesture for activating backgrounding, as opposed to the double press as described in the article. It would be too easy to get the double press wrong and accidentally quit the app.

      Not that this should strictly matter - if an app is following the UI guidelines then it should save its state. But so many of them don't.

  6. Laie Techie

    iPhone OS 4.0?

    I've been waiting for confirmation on the new hardware :(

  7. Steve Evans

    So...

    Have they done anything to improve the battery munching habits, or are the "fanbois" doomed to all be unreachable after 4pm?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      Have you ever used an iPhone?

      I mean, last weekend I went away and forgot my charger, I used the phone to make a few calls, take a few snaps, listen to a bit of music and it lasted till Monday morning when I got home.

      Now, i am sure if I had wanted to run a processor intensive app (like some of the games I have installed) I could have drained the battery in a couple of hours but then arent all portable appliances in the same boat?

      My iPhone is 1st gen, 2g and 2 1/2 years old, been dropped many times, fell into the sink once but if I use it as a phone the battery gives me about 3 days no problems, if I hammer the phone the battery doesnt last as long.

      1. Steve Evans

        @A/C

        Have I used one? Frequently. I know several people with them.

        I can only assume that your 1st gen is far better than the 3G and 3GS models my friends have. They seem to be constantly getting into each others cars and asking if they can borrow the car charger, or in the case of my iphone owning brother, pinching one of my power sockets every time he pops round to visit.

        I really must rewire my 13A sockets across two phases... 415V of AC goodness up the fruit device.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Coffee/keyboard

      hahahahahahahahah

      you sir, owe me a new keyboard !!!!

  8. Gary F
    Troll

    Wow, it's going to multi-task!

    Now when did I last get excited about multi-tasking? Oh yes, in the late 80's when I first saw the Amiga 1000. That was over 20 years ago. Poor little iphone. That is one reason why I rejected you, you mono tasking fashion icon for lemmings.

  9. magnumpy

    Jobsian cult?

    while I do realize there exist mindless apple fan-boys and I don't consider myself one of them (I don't own any of their excessively priced products and don't think I ever will) using language like this really diminishes this site in my mind. I always considered The Register to be on a higher level than trash rags like Fudzilla or Semi Accurate, but apparently the differences are less significant than the similarities.

    If you insist on throwing mud on the playground with the other children I would suggest adopting the old classics in puerile invective like "neener neener neener!" or "I know you are but what am I!" this will communicate your childish mentality much more effectively and eliminate any possibility of disappointment from people who might be expecting legitimate discourse from rational adults.

    1. Steven Knox
      FAIL

      Bollocks

      If you had actually read The Register at any time all for the past 10 years, you would know that treating tech companies with disrespect* is WHAT THEY DO. So either you're not a Reg reader at all, but a Mac fanboi troll, or, even worse, you're doing to The Register what Isaac Hayes did to South Park, as in:

      **tee hee, they're really slamming M$ here!!**

      **lulz, Sun really is a mess, isn't it!**

      **w00t! Take that, Google!**

      **WHAT? They're picking on my Apple! How dare these fiends! That's relig^H^H^H^H^H technical intolerance!**

      So I dub thee a Hayesian Jobsian, the height of hypocrisy. Well done!

      * Pretty much universally deserved.

  10. Simon Buttress
    Joke

    @Steve Evans

    Would that not make it V4.00 then?

    B'doom tsssch

    1. Steve Evans

      *groan*

      It would be nice if they all did fade out mid-afternoon, just think how much faster the mobile data network will get without all those background polling iPhone apps hogging all the bandwidth!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Down

        Not only bandwidth

        ... but network signalling capacity also. So even voice calls on 'dumb phones' are impacted by the fanbois...

  11. Mark 65

    Sheesh

    Does it have a "don't multitask I prefer to be able to make and receive calls for a whole day" option?

  12. Neil 7
    Jobs Horns

    And just think how funny it will be

    when the new version is finally announced and there's no multi-tasking.

    All these "rumours" from blogtards who by and large just make sh1t up in order to justify their existence is getting ridiculous.

    I wonder how long before this is reported on the front page of the BBC...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is the free upgrade for iPad purchasers

    Call me a cynic, but as I understand it the iPad comes with one free major upgrade. Here it is, immediately post-launch of the device. Now any major upgrades will be chargeable after this one.

    1. Ed 11
      Stop

      No cynic...

      I won't call you a cynic, but I will happily call you poorly informed. It is as a result of American accountancy rules implemented post the collapse of Enron that Apple (and, indeed, every other major electronics company) are unable to continually enhance the functionality of products which have been sold and on which revenue has been recognised.

      Take the iPhone v iPod Touch. Apple recognises revenue over the life of the contract on the iPhone and software updates are, correspondingly, free. Apple recognises all revenue at the point of sale on the iPod Touch and therefore has to charge for software updates.

      Now I accept that Apple doesn't need to recognise all the revenue on iPod Touch's or iPad's upfront but their shareholders (read your pension fund, amongst others) prefer that they do so.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Original premise still holds true

        Regardless the reason for only one free upgrade, the premise is that you get one free upgrade and I contend they want the clock to start ticking immediately so they can follow up with the paid uprade offer asap.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      another reason apple pisses me off...

      if the "major upgrade" includes even one minor bug fix then the update should be free. End of story....

      if the major upgrade just adds additional functions, then that’s another matter... but on the other hand, i don’t know of any other manufacturer that charges for FW upgrades, but i am sure if there are any, someone is gonna tell me !!

      Having to pay for your overpriced ipod/ipad to have bugs fixed surly is against the law? well in the uk anyway?

      But i suppose all the apple fanbois are too busy queuing up to get on there knees in front of St jobs to actually take a stand against him...

  14. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Meh, iPhone OS is dead. Long live Android

    1 manufacturer with 3 products that are all locked into their own store is never going to be able to compete with the far more open and widespread (and better) Android.

    Lets face it, and OS that can't multitask in 2010 (let alone 2000 or 1990) is done for. Same applies to Flash support (2 things my HTC Hero handles just fine)

    Android has already pretty much eliminated any lead Apple had, in a mere year, and with more and more hanset manufacturers adopting it by the day, it's game over for Apple's smartphone dominace.

    I can easily see is coming in 3rd place behind android and symbian by the end of the year.

    1. Tim Cook
      Happy

      ha ha!

      Android couldn't eliminate it's way out of a paper bag! The Nexus One has barely sold, the non-Google devices are all fragmenting the platform and making it more and more difficult to develop for, basically it's Windows Mobile all over again only without the little pointy stick.

      Apple's "smartphone dominance" is going nowhere - they have the most apps, they have the most satisfied users, they have that same OS with cross-compatible apps on other big-selling devices like the iPod and iPad, basically they have everything that Google have singularly failed to deliver with Android so far - and their OS is only going to get better.

  15. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
    Jobs Horns

    hmmm...

    Ok.. one big objection less to buying an iThingie...

    The other big objection ... Locked down with wonderful DRM features

    (ok we can crack it, but still, the point is it's locked by default, it's still inconvenient and it's the principle of it all)

    Lesser objections:

    sealed battery in unit.. ok it's a form factor compromise....

    all glossy screens... wtf? no matt?

    price... ok, you pay a premium, but... arguably, the form factor is nice, and the device is really quite usable for what it is intended to be.

    Honestly, I possibly would have bought an iThingie already but for the above 2 major objections.

    Wait and see...

  16. Robbie
    Stop

    Pathetic ... again

    The constant insults against owners of Apple products has gone well beyond old.

  17. MattyB
    Thumb Down

    Very Disappointed......

    ....... With this article. I come to el Reg for impartial, factual, articulate articles and reviews of all technology products. That this article includes slur's about anyones personal preference when it comes to hardware/software means to me that it has no credibility.

    Keep it up Reg, more articles like this and I'll stop coming here!

  18. Paul 185
    Flame

    more of this

    Can we have more articles like this please? All these easily offended internet warriors are getting on my nerves. Perhaps a week of 100% Apple mocking will rid us of these plonkers.

    Get over it, they insult people. Sometimes it's you.

    1. Marty
      Pint

      LMAO

      Heres a beer for you Paul....

    2. MattyB

      It's not me, but it is someone.

      I'm not upset because I'm a massive fan of Apple products, I'd be just as upset if the slurs were directed at Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Motorola, or anyone else.

      My point is that the article didn't need to be written with prejudice or preference towards anyone or anything, I'm just after the facts personally.

      I'm not so keen on anyone who would mock another person because of the choice of equipment they make, or their preference to how they prefer their articles to be written for that matter.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    If you are disappointed, why not try lowering your expectations?

    'With this article. I come to el Reg for impartial, factual, articulate articles and reviews of all technology products'

    Why? Have you not been here before? Most non-regulars have been Googling for 'swedish lesbians' and been directed to some articles by Lester Haines.

    'Keep it up Reg, more articles like this and I'll stop coming here!'

    Cya! Thanks for dropping in!

  20. Giles Jones Gold badge

    WinMo

    Thing is, I don't understand all the whinging about multitasking. WIndows Mobile's X close button didn't close applications, it put them in the background. Users were always moaning that the close button should close the application.

    The fact that the Windows Mobile task manager was hidden away probably added to that frustration.

    What people generally want on a phone isn't multitasking, they want state preservation. So that when the application is revealed it remains in the same state as when they closed it. Only a few applications really benefit from multitasking, IM and music players. Most people will just Apple's iPod player and that multitasks.

    There's other media players like Spotify, SIDPlayer, ModPlayer, but these are often battery or CPU hogs.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Another basic upgrade from apple.

    Apple are playing intel's game.

    They are drip feeding their iSheep with partial upgrades once in a while, when they darn well have the tech and ability to introduce a great product.

    You have to be pretty thick to not see it. All tech companies do this once they have a large user/fanboi base.

    You are being drip-fed tech that apple developed years ago. They are milking you for every penny they can get out of you.

    Brings the simpsons episode to mind where lisa wants ANY iSomething product but cant afford it, so asks for the fake headphones (iPhonines) which also cost $35. Trust me if they thought they could sell these to you as well they would be in the iSomething stores tomorrow morning.

    I LMFAO at you and salute you for being so gullable.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Flash on an iPhone/iPad/iPod

    Well who'd a thunk it?

    http://tv.adobe.com/watch/flash-platform-in-action/adobe-air-apps-on-the-iphone-and-motorola-droid/

    I think it works like:

    write your code

    export the code to the device (single code, multiple devices)

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