Apple issues second beta of iOS 4.3, says new gestures just a preview
Apple on Wednesday released to developers the second external beta of its upcoming iOS 4.3, as well as a new pre-release copy of Apple TV software designed to support the mobile operating system's new AirPlay feature for third-party programmers. It also informed developers that some features present in the initial beta won't make it into the 4.3 release
The new beta of iOS 4.3 carries build number 9F5135d and is available for all three of Apple's iOS devices -- the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Thus far, it's too early to tell what changes may come baked into the release when compared to the first beta, released exactly one week ago.
The first beta of iOS 4.3 introduced a personal hotspot control panel, new multitouch gestures for the iPad, and updated SMS alert settings. Resource files accompanying the release also provided hints at a handful of new iPad and iPhone models, as well as a potential "Find My Friends" social networking feature.
It should be noted, however, that the multi-touch gestures that made their debut in the first beta won't be ready for prime time by the final release of iOS 4.3, according to a note to developers accompanying the release of the second beta.
"This feature will not be enabled in iOS 4.3 for customers," the documentation reads, "but we are providing this preview to gather input on how these gestures work with your apps."
Readers interested in the rest of the discoveries made last week can turn to AppleInsider's First Look at iOS 4.3.
The New Multi-touch Gestures
The new beta of iOS 4.3 carries build number 9F5135d and is available for all three of Apple's iOS devices -- the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Thus far, it's too early to tell what changes may come baked into the release when compared to the first beta, released exactly one week ago.
The first beta of iOS 4.3 introduced a personal hotspot control panel, new multitouch gestures for the iPad, and updated SMS alert settings. Resource files accompanying the release also provided hints at a handful of new iPad and iPhone models, as well as a potential "Find My Friends" social networking feature.
It should be noted, however, that the multi-touch gestures that made their debut in the first beta won't be ready for prime time by the final release of iOS 4.3, according to a note to developers accompanying the release of the second beta.
"This feature will not be enabled in iOS 4.3 for customers," the documentation reads, "but we are providing this preview to gather input on how these gestures work with your apps."
Readers interested in the rest of the discoveries made last week can turn to AppleInsider's First Look at iOS 4.3.
The New Multi-touch Gestures
Comments
Readers experimenting the new beta are free to submit their findings.
Nevermind the fact that anyone using the beta is supposed to be bound by the developer agreement and treat all information about said beta as confidential.
The major downside would be a problem with display on widescreen TV's which have a different aspect ratio to other iOS devices.
Nevermind the fact that anyone using the beta is supposed to be bound by the developer agreement and treat all information about said beta as confidential.
I?ve never minded confidentially agreements.
I still feel that the gestures are a real preview of a new notification system. The reason they want the developers to test them is to see if it messes up their apps. Fruit ninja comes to mind.
I think so too. I think a swipe from the top down would be a great way to access that ?app? from iOS-based iDevices.
My iPad will not be updated past the betas until these become available. They are just too useful for me to get rid of. As someone who has been stating that iPad doesn?t fit me current needs well, these new gestures have altered that feeling.
Really? That's a pretty powerful statement. Too bad this announcement means I'll have to wait even longer. Maybe it's worth the $99 admittance fee to be a Dev without even being dev.
I think so too. I think a swipe from the top down would be a great way to access that ?app? from iOS-based iDevices.
I think a two finger pinch would be cool for notifications.
I think a two finger pinch would be cool for notifications.
It can’t be two-finger, and probably shouldn’t be three-fingers. Safari and Photos, at least, use the two0finger pinch. I think a quite swipe down, with three or more fingers, over the menu bar would be very effective. I use this now for LockInfo on my iPhone. Very useful for bringing up iCal and weather data, but having it actually show rich notifications would be money*.
* Kids, did I use that term correctly?
"This feature will not be enabled in iOS 4.3 for customers," the documentation reads, "but we are providing this preview to gather input on how these gestures work with your apps."
Why can't Apple adopt the Google School of Software Development and unleash it upon its customers, who can beta test it on the fly?
Why take a long time to provide something good, when you can pump out mediocrity today? Just throw a BETA logo in the upper left-hand corner and call it a day.
Well that sucks ass.. I guess we'll see it in iOS 4.4 or 5.0..
I?d expect it in the iOS version for iPad 2 or iOS 5.0.
I just remembered that I questioned why the atypical release of new features were coming out in a point update. I suppose that makes this my fault now.
Very useful for bringing up iCal and weather data, but having it actually show rich notifications would be money*.
* Kids, did I use that term correctly?
This is your fault? You bastard!
And yes, you used it correctly.
Hard one... Great to use in most cases, but fundamentally wrong
Problem is... 4 finger gestures effectively ban developers to use more than 3 fingers, if 4-5 are reserved by the iOS. I bet 95% only use 1 point input, so it would mostly work really smooth.. But developers should be able to make apps that are free from exposé mis-swipes and override these settings... which kinda defeats its purpose.
Hard one... Great to use in most cases, but fundamentally wrong
Wouldn't that be solved with some sort of override -just as an app that use tilt for input can lock screen orientation so that turning your car hard into a corner would not rotate the device - couldn't a given app override the 4 and 5 figure gestures? Sure it would mean a not entirely consistent user interface across the board - but much better in my opinion to have an app do what it is supposed and leave the OS functionality for times when it is not encroaching on the app's behaviour.
I have used mouse and pen based systems that use gestures (obviously single point) that are more shaped based. This seems much more reasonable to me than the same action with more fingers. Up swipes, down swipes, left and right swipes, pinches are all fine with one finger or two now add diagonals and checkmarks and maybe X and O shapes and some other 'universal' shapes or even numeral or letter shapes that have relevance to the action, though I can see how those are more problematical given language differences.
Is it just me or does the whole multi-finger gesture thing seem kinda lame.
It's just you. If we can stop using the home button on the ipad it would sure speed navigating the apps up. The home button is the worst on an Ipad. It really doesn't work well and these gestures are the software fix for that.
Wouldn't that be solved with some sort of override -just as an app that use tilt for input can lock screen orientation so that turning your car hard into a corner would not rotate the device - couldn't a given app override the 4 and 5 figure gestures? Sure it would mean a not entirely consistent user interface across the board - but much better in my opinion to have an app do what it is supposed and leave the OS functionality for times when it is not encroaching on the app's behaviour.
It's interesting because I'm sure Apple would rather set a standard convention for everyone with their spanking new baby iOS. Maybe not, but it must drive them nuts that they ran into that problem with OSX and now you Apps like photoshop and Illustrator for instance that can't follow the standard "command + Shift + S" or "command + H" key commands. Wonder what they will do? Maybe Apple is wondering what to do too and that's he reason for the early release.
We should ask someone who has the beta if there might already be a feature to mitigate this problem in place. Solip?
My iPad will not be updated past the betas until these become available. They are just too useful for me to get rid of. As someone who has been stating that iPad doesn?t fit me current needs well, these new gestures have altered that feeling.
The Betas expire after a certain length of time which will render your iPad useless. Hahaha, I tried it once, I was left with no choice but to update.