iPhone OS 4.0: New Features Include Multitasking, Folders

Apple unveiled the next version of its iPhone operating system, version 4.0, with several new features. As had been widely expected, Apple added a multitasking capability, which will allow you to run more than one third-party app at a time. Other new features in the update, which will be available this summer, include folders for organizing all of your apps, a new Mail client, and a Game Center.

Multitasking has long topped the wish lists of many iPhone users, something that Apple acknowledged during today's event. "We weren't the first to this party, but we're going to be the best," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, noting that multitasking too often drains battery life and causes poor overall performance. He said Apple's iteration of multitasking will not cause these problems.

Jobs also showed off a revamped Mail client for the iPhone, which will offer a unified inbox, where you can check incoming messages from different accounts. The Mail app also will offer a threaded view, so you can see messages grouped by conversation, similar to the way the Web-based version of Gmail displays them. The updated Mail app also will offer better handling of attachments, allowing them to be opened in separate apps, even if those apps are third-party ones.

Apple also is helping users organize all of those apps they have on their iPhones with a new Folders feature. This will allow you to create folder, in which you can store different apps. You can drag apps into a folder, and folder icons can be moved around your home screen, just as any other icon can.

Other notable new features in iPhone OS 4.0 include a version of the iBooks app that has become popular on Apple's new iPad, as well as a Game Center, which Apple likens to a social network for gamers. Apple also announced iAd, its own mobile advertising network.

Apple released a developer preview of the new OS on Thursday, and said that it would be available to users of the iPhone and iPod Touch users this summer. Users of the iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod Touch will be able to take advantage of all of the new features, while users of older devices (like the iPhone 3G) will not support all of the features, such as multitasking. iPad users will get the updated OS this fall.

For more details, read my complete overview of all the new features in Apple's iPhone OS version 4.0.

Photo copyright Apple