Hands-on with iOS 4 (photos)

iOS 4 is here and we had the chance to take it for a test drive.

Kent German, Jason Parker

June 21, 2010 2:49 p.m. PT

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Multitasking

Editors' note: This slideshow has been updated with four new slides. The original publish date was April 9, 2010.

Multitasking is the biggest win from iOS 4. It's great to have this common smartphone feature, though we're disappointed it will come only to the iPhone 3GS (or later) and not the iPhone 3G.

To access the multitasking menu, double tap the Home button. You'll see a list of currently running applications that you can scroll through using a sideways finger swipe. You then open an application by tapping its icon.

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More mulitasking

To close a running application, first use a long press on the related icon. You'll then see a tiny delete icon in the top left corner.

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Easy access to controls

Double-tap the home button to bring up the multitasking screen and scroll one screen to the left to access iPod controls. You also can lock the screen rotation from this screen or return to iTunes with a touch of your finger.

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Home screen folders

We also welcome the new ability to add home screen folders. To create a folder, just drag icons on top of each other. The folder will then appear as a square with tiny icons of the included app inside. Tap the the folder to open it.

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Naming folders

You can change the default folder name if you wish. To remove apps from a folder, just drag the related icon back to the home screen.

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Unified in-box

We've long asked for a unified e-mail in-box, and now we have it. Alternatively, you can select in-boxes for individual accounts.

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Threaded e-mail search, step one

iOS 4 adds the ability to see e-mails by thread. To get started, select the gray double arrows next to a message.

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Threaded e-mail search, step two

You'll now see only those e-mails in the selected thread.

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Delete e-mails in search

When searching your e-mails, you can delete messages directly from the search results.

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Home screen backgrounds

The new OS lets you change the home screen background. The only trouble is you can't get back to the standard black background once you remove it.

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Home or lock screen?

When selecting a wallpaper, you can use it as the home screen background, the lock screen background, or both.

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Camera zoom

In the still camera you get a 5x digital zoom. Tap the display to access the feature.

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Rotate photo

In the photo gallery menu you can choose to rotate an image 90 degrees.

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Image sorting

Find all the images that have a specific friend in them using the Faces sorting feature. You'll need to have already used the face recognition options in iPhoto or Aperture and synced with iTunes to use this feature.

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Geolocation of photos

The addition of Geolocations lets you view where you took your latest shots on a map and sort your images by location.

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Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET

Location Services menu

A new Location Services menu lets you decide which programs can use your location information and which ones can't.

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Spell check

Though the iPhone has long had an autocorrect feature, the new spell check feature will notify you of unrecognized or misspelled words with a red underline.