More New iPhone OS 4 Features: File Sharing, App Closing

[MacRumors]

The third beta of iPhone OS 4, released and then pulled yesterday after an installation issue with the development tools was discovered, is now back in Apple's iPhone Dev Center. Following on yesterday's discovery of new iPod controls and a screen orientation lock available through the iPhone OS 4 multitasking interface, Boy Genius Report covered several additional new highlights for the updated operating system.

File Sharing

Currently available with iPhone OS 3.2 on the iPad, iPhone OS 4 seems set to bring this feature to the iPhone and iPod touch, allowing users to drag-and-drop files between certain applications and their computers.

Closing Applications

In earlier beta versions of iPhone OS 4, users wishing to close applications in the multitasking tray had to touch and hold each application's icon until an extra "close" icon appeared in the upper left corner of the application's icon and then touch it to close out the application. The awkward and time-consuming process when trying to close multiple applications was a complaint of some users, and Apple has addressed the issue by now allowing users to simply touch and hold one application's icon to activate the close option for all visible applications in the multitasking tray. Once activated, users can quickly close multiple applications.



Article Link: More New iPhone OS 4 Features: File Sharing, App Closing

 

[SkippyThorson]

... and that's the way it should just work.

Good job Apple, both of these are very welcome additions.

 

[Cyroceon]

Love the new method of app closing. That seems like how it should be done. I can't wait to get my hands on iPhone 4.0 software on the upcoming iPhone.

 

[talkingfuture]

File sharing looks useful. Although still not perfect or seamless.

 

[amac4me]

4.0 is looking more and more like a very intriguing update.

 

[knewsom]

want want want.

....and then I want it jailbroken.

 

[CJM]

With every tidbit of news I get more excited for the iPhone 4G launch.

My current £15 phone was cool for a while but after the initial bohemian novelty wore off, it's becoming embarrassing to pull it out in public.

 

[casik]

Interesting with the file sharing.... It would be better if there was a simple "Finder" app that acted as a USB drive when plugged in to your computer that you could also save files to in Mail, Camera, Documents to Go, etc...

 

[PeterQVenkman]

File sharing looks useful. Although still not perfect or seamless.

Absolutely! I want to be able to store items on my device, and access them from any program that can use them. I think Apple is moving away from the whole "storing files in directories and let you browse them whenever you want" on the iPhone OS, but I'll take what I can get.

For everything else, there is PhoneView.

 

[Xavier]

Now I really want an iPhone!

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What happened to "if it needs a a task manager, they blew it"?

 

[chim9999]

I think it's finally time to upgrade my 1st gen.

 

[Glenn.955]

So much better

This beta is sooo much better than the last one..

Regarding to quiting apps - I think a better way would be just to drag them off the dock into a puff of smoke - like you do on the mac.

 

[jayenh]

i've not used os4, so i cant really comment from experience (other than backgrounder on my jailbroken phone) but double tapping the home button just seems clunky for something that is probably going to get a lot of use. and the way the dock seems to get pushed up looks a bit weird. i hope they change that, and i hope they come up with a gesture for bringing up the switcher. at the moment none of it really seems all that "apple". even this new killing of apps. why not flick them off the switcher like removing stuff from the OSX dock?

[edit] scratch that, it needs to be a physical button since other apps might already use any combination of gestures and could overlap. i still think its clunky though.

 

[scottparker999]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What happened to "if it needs a a task manager, they blew it"?

Yea, it doesn't seem very Apple-like way of closing applications even with this new update. It would be nice if by default applications closed, and there was the option to multitask them.

Does anybody know how the multitasking programs are organised in the pop-up menu? Alphabetically or last used?

 

[Adokimus]

Palm's got so many problems as a company, but their muli-tasking with the card view is the best out there. Apple should just have you drag the icon down and off the screen to end it. That, to me, would be the quickest and most intuitive way.

 

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/8A260b Safari/531.21.10)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What happened to "if it needs a a task manager, they blew it"?

Yea, it doesn't seem very Apple-like way of closing applications even with this new update. It would be nice if by default applications closed, and there was the option to multitask them.

Does anybody know how the multitasking programs are organised in the pop-up menu? Alphabetically or last used?

Last-used.

 

[8CoreWhore]

The Aple haters heads are gonna explode. Paul Thurrott will launch himself off a bridge. (as his head explodes)

An even faster way to have all the apps close simultaneously is to have a Flash plugin running in them.

 

[acurafan]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What happened to "if it needs a a task manager, they blew it"?

it's the pot calling the kettle black

at least they're giving us the feature...

 

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/8A260b Safari/531.21.10)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What happened to "if it needs a a task manager, they blew it"?

Well, a task manager usually shows all running processes. This does not. It's an app switcher that allows you to close unneeded apps, not a task manager that lets you terminate processes. Two very different things, really.

 

[dernhelm]

'bout time I can use my iPod Touch/iPhone as a USB stick!

 

[Mac Eagle]

Closing Apps

Is there a way to close an app without it going to the multitask pane? I have over a hundred apps and don't want them all on my multitask pane. This will kill the usefulness of the multitask pane if I have to scroll through a bunch of apps in order to get to the one I want to switch to. I might as well have to find it on the home page.

 

[L-U-R-C-H]

This beta is sooo much better than the last one..

Regarding to quiting apps - I think a better way would be just to drag them off the dock into a puff of smoke - like you do on the mac.

Yeah, I agree. That seems like it would be the best way to close apps that are open.

 

[LarzStarz]

Is there a way to close an app without it going to the multitask pane? I have over a hundred apps and don't want them all on my multitask pane. This will kill the usefulness of the multitask pane if I have to scroll through a bunch of apps in order to get to the one I want to switch to. I might as well have to find it on the home page.

Um, push the home button?

 

[8CoreWhore]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What happened to "if it needs a a task manager, they blew it"?

It doesn't NEED a task manager. There's a difference.