Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iOS 4.3 vs iOS 5

ipedro

ipedro

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 30, 2004
6,472
9,255
Toronto, ON
iOS 4.3 has shown that Apple is willing to make big changes in a point update. The addition of WiFi Personal Hotspot, AirPlay from 3rd parties and 4 finger gesture controls are not the kind of additions you'd expect from a "maintenance update".

So what does this mean for iOS5?

It appears that we should expect some ground breaking changes in iOS5. Discuss.
 
IMO none of the features introduced in iOS 4.1 , 4.2 or 4.3 have been "ground breaking" (at least for iPhone).
 
Last edited:
Gestures has the potential to be ground breaking I think. It changes the whole "physical" metaphor of iOS.

Swiping from side to side to reveal running apps or pinching for home gives the impression of stacked levels where apps are lined up next to eachother above a homescreen which is on a "physical" level below. Literally as if apps were pieces of paper on top of a desk (homescreen).

3rd Party AirPlay is absolutely groundbreaking in its own right. Suddenly your iPhone/iPod/iPad becomes the AppleTV that everybody's wished for. Any App will be able to be streamed to your big screen. This makes every iPhone/iPod/iPad user an AppleTV customer. This puts Apple at the forefront of the living room market that everybody's had such a hard time being successful in.

Anyhow, the basis of this thread is that these are new features, not just maintenance. If Apple is putting these out in a point update, what can we expect from a full number upgrade? iOS5 will need to be dramatically changed to justify its move from 4 to 5.
 
Or it could mean iOS 5 will be less groundbreaking if they are adding major features now. Who knows..
 
the hotspot and that is just to bring the iPhone 4 inline across the world with the feature on the verizon one.

as for gestures, probably because 4.3 will be for iPad 2 as well as original iPad.
 
PBF said:
Remember that iOS 4.3 is not bringing any new features to iPhone except for the hotpot thingy.
Click to expand...

and proper airplay video, and whatever else is included we don't know about yet, and personally the "hotspot thingy" is a big thing to me, i really want this feature.
 
... and of course Gestures. That's a pretty big NEW feature.

My argument is that point updates are typically meant to make existing features work better. Brand new features generally means a full number upgrade.

If these kinds of changes are happening for 4.3, I can't imagine how big of an update iOS5 is going to be! :D

I'm thinking that features associated with new hardware in iPhone 5 such as Near Field Communications will be enough of a jump to justify the "5" but I'm also hoping for a serious update to the UI.

When iPhone first came out, the UI and features lived up to its "5 years ahead of the competition" claim. Today, Android and even Windows Phone 7 make iOS's UI look dated. Apple will need quite an overhaul to reclaim that title.

The hardware is certainly the best of any other phone but the UI looks.... well, 5 years old.
 
If they're going to stay competitive with Android, they're going to need to drop new iOS features more than once a year.

I suspect that's what began with 4.2 and will continue with 4.3.
 
ipedro said:
When iPhone first came out, the UI and features lived up to its "5 years ahead of the competition" claim.
Click to expand...

How can it already have lived up a 5-year claim after 3 and a half years? Just sayin...

Also, how does the iPhone suddenly become the Apple TV everyone has always wanted? I thought air play just sent video to the Apple TV.
 
Eso said:
How can it already have lived up a 5-year claim after 3 and a half years? Just sayin...
Click to expand...

At the pace innovation was proceeding, it would have taken about 5 years to reach the point where the original iPhone was starting at. iPhone changed the industry so the reality we live in today is different than the one where iPhone didn't exist.

Eso said:
Also, how does the iPhone suddenly become the Apple TV everyone has always wanted? I thought air play just sent video to the Apple TV.
Click to expand...

I wrote this early last year:

At first glance, it appears that Apple missed an incredible opportunity today by not announcing apps for AppleTV. But read in between the lines: They did.

Apps are coming to your TV, just not how you thought they were.

With iOS 4.2 you'll already be able to beam the content from 3 apps to your AppleTV: Video, Music and Photos. The real revolution will come when Apple opens this to 3rd parties.

The living room will be conquered by iPads and iPods. Apps will be hosted on iOS devices and beamed to your TV. AppleTV will simply be a liaison between your personal iOS devices and your TV.

Apple recognized that the biggest potential isn't in selling these TV boxes, it is in selling iPads, iPods and iPhones. It's a brilliant move.

The next step will be on the iOS side. Apps will come to AppleTV, but not on the device itself. iOS 5 next year will introduce the ability for apps to stream to an external screen via AirPlay. At the next WWDC, developers will be given new API's that will allow them to specify a UI for a second screen in HD.

For example, games will have their controls on your handheld iOS device while the main action will take place on your big screen. A news App would display the story in your hands while video and photos would show up on your HD TV. A sports app would display stats on the small display and visual content on the big one.

In May 2010, I posted the following scenario in this forum. It is still relevant today and I see the realization of this vision coming together with today's announcement.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ipedro

A scenario:
Mom, Dad, Timmy and Sally all have their own iPhones and iPod Touches with their personal tastes and personalities reflected in those libraries. There's also a family iMac and an iPad.

Timmy and Dad are sitting on the couch watching a TV show episode that Dad just purchased on his iPhone. When he pressed play on his iPhone, he selected "Living Room TV" as the output source.

Technical note: Because content is no longer stored on any given device, and instead in the Lala cloud -- now called iTunes Cloud -- the iPhone only sent the instructions to the small device plugged behind the TV which is now streaming it from the cloud. The iPhone isn't doing any heavy lifting.

Sally walks in and thinks that the star of the TV show is kinda cute so she pulls out her iPod Touch, opens the new TV app to see what's playing on the TV and brings up the credits of the TV show now playing. She finds the name of the actor, does a Wikipedia search and finds out he's from their town!

Sally: Look Dad, Trent Cutie is from Springfield!
Dad: I thought I recognized him. What other tv shows or movies has he been in?

On her iPod Touch, with Safari running, Sally brings up the new iPhonesOS 4.0 Screen Push feature and sends the feed from her iPod Touch to the living room TV for everybody to see what she's browsing.

Mom walks into the living room with the iPad and asks what everybody wants for dinner. She opens the Jamie Kennedy's 20 Minute Meals app and pushes her screen to the living room TV as they all review some options.

They choose Lemon Herb Chicken and mom leaves with Timmy to make dinner. Dad resumes the TV show on his iPhone and him and Sally finish watching Trent Cutie's show on the living room TV.

With the inclusion of AirPlay in AppleTV, the stage is set for it to become a link from your iOS devices to your TV. By making AirPlay an industry standard that can be included in new TV's everybody will want to jump on the Apple bandwagon. We'll begin seeing TVs that can stream content from iPads, iPods and iPhones. AppleTV is Apple's version in this space, but to their benefit, not exclusive.

Stay tuned. A living room entertainment revolution was announced today. We just don't know it yet.
Click to expand...
 
ipedro said:
At the pace innovation was proceeding, it would have taken about 5 years to reach the point where the original iPhone was starting at. iPhone changed the industry so the reality we live in today is different than the one where iPhone didn't exist.
Click to expand...

This isn't the syfy network; we can't conjecture about realities in which the iPhone didn't exist.

I see your point about apps on the Apple TV. I thought you meant that the iPhone would be like the Apple TV or something.
 
Last edited:
Eso said:
This isn't the syfy network; we can't conjecturing about realities in which the iPhone didn't exist.
Click to expand...

Regardless of your opinion about alternate realities, the fact is that when iPhone was launched, the Motorola Razor was the hottest phone out there :rolleyes:

That was the basis on which iPhone was "5 years ahead of its time".

Anyway, back to iOS4.3 vs iOS5. I agree that Apple needs to release new features more than once per year.

I still wonder what kind of features iOS5 will launch to justify the full number upgrade. Any ideas?
 
I expect better notifications to be a big part of iOS 5 as well as wireless syncing and better integration into the (iTunes) cloud.
 
Apple has heard our cry before, and answered them several times.. Maybe Slowly, but they did answer them.. Think about it... We wanted multitasking they gave it to us, threaded email, they gave it to us, folders, tethering, and the list goes on...It went from me jailbreaking to get all those things. To me jailbreaking just to use quick reply.. Apple slowly added everything that we wanted. Each update they gave us something that we had been looking for.. But now, IOS 5.. Is going to be the software that changes everything again. Just by looking at the beta, they are trying to make the user experience more efficient, with the gestures and etc. I think this is going to be the best update! I think we are going to finally get the new notification system that we been waiting on.. (Remember about a year ago, Apple hired the guy that worked at Palm and made their notification system). I think Apple is going to introduce some things that we havent even imagined before..
Not to mention the new iphone. Iphone 4 or 5 whatever they call it.. I think we are finally going to get that bigger screen. With the new battery tech they been working on. List goes on... The next couple of months are going to be huge.
 
I really hope they get some sort of widget type system is coming in iOS5. That is one of the few elements that I see on Droid and I wish it was on the iPhone. That and a better notification system will keep me content for quite a while. I think the quality of the apps available on the apple platform is the other big positive for Apple.
Held off on the original iPad, but I plan to take the leap there with version 2. Can't wait till April, or whenever.
 
rorschach said:
Or it could mean iOS 5 will be less groundbreaking if they are adding major features now. Who knows..
Click to expand...
What would be the point of calling it iOS 5 (as opposed to e.g. 4.8, 4.9, etc) if it didn't have "ground changing" features?
 
vachargerfan said:
I just can't wait for Hulu Plus + Airplay. Fios will not like me when I cancel the cable :D
Click to expand...
Has Hulu confirmed Airplay support? I contacted them asking why they didn't allow videos to be played on a TV using the Apple video cable, and they said their licensing restrictions prevent that. So I don't really see them supporting Airplay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back