Most of the focus on the forthcoming iOS 4.2 update has been on the iPad, and rightly so. The iPad is finally getting marquee features that most iPhone users have enjoyed for months, like multitasking and folder support. iOS 4.2 doesn’t bring as many changes to the iPhone as it does to the iPad, but it does introduce a few new features to the iPhone. iOS 4.2 is expected to go live later this week, but we’ll give you a brief rundown of the new features today. Note that most of these features should be identical on newer versions of the iPod touch, so anywhere I say “iPhone” (which is all I’ve got to test with), you can probably safely assume I mean iPhone/iPod touch.
AirPlay
The biggest new feature in iOS 4.2 is AirPlay, which allows you to stream audio to an Apple TV, AirPort Express, or AirPlay-enabled third-party system. You’ll also be able to stream video to an Apple TV, but since I don’t own one I haven’t been able to test that part of the functionality.
AirPlay icon on the right — blue means it’s working
Select which destination you want to stream to
In my testing, AirPlay has worked not just in apps you’d expect it to work, like the iPod and YouTube apps. At least in the iOS 4.2 gold master, AirPlay will stream audio from any app, including games. Before you get too excited by the prospect of playing Canabalt’s awesome soundtrack through your surround sound system, there’s an important caveat: there’s a delay of approximately two seconds between actions on your iPhone and output from external speakers, caused by the encoding and decoding of the audio stream. In other words, if you’re playing Flight Control on your iPhone and streaming audio to your stereo over AirPlay, sounds will be delayed by two seconds or more. Obviously this is less than ideal, so it’s somewhat surprising that Apple’s enabled AirPlay at all for these kinds of apps.
In apps specifically designed for AirPlay, like iPod and YouTube, the iOS software is smart enough to delay video output on your iPhone so that it syncs up with the audio stream. You can watch music videos or movies on your iPhone and play the sound over AirPlay to external speakers. This is a truly “gee-whiz” feature, and it’s almost sold me on the idea of getting an Apple TV so I can stream video, too.
Click “Read More” to see the rest of iOS 4.2’s features on the iPhone.
Continue reading What to expect from iOS 4.2 on iPhone
What to expect from iOS 4.2 on iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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