iOS 4.2 Software Update for iPad, iPhone and iPod | Hacker News Reader

iOS 4.2 Software Update for iPad, iPhone and iPod

apple.com

27 pointsbjonathan9 comments

I actually dislike it when this happens because I have to download the ~2.5GB dev kit again on my crappy connection before I can publish again. Or am I doing it wrong?

I would also like to know if there is an easier/better way to upgrade xcode / whatever libraries it needs when a new release arrives.

Unfortunately no, there's no other way at the moment. Apple is aware of the issues this causes a lot of people, but so far I've not heard of any upcoming solutions to this the situation. (Filing more radars complaining about this can't hurt, though, as bug reports act as votes.)

I can't decide if I should upgrade my iPad to this or not. The lack of multitasking - and therefore the lack of distractions - was the main selling point for me.

Also, the last iPhone OS update I ran on my 3G made the device run so slowly I jumped to Android.

So I'm going to wait and let everyone else be guinea pigs for me. Has anyone installed the update already? How was it?

Multitasking shouldn't change much for you on iPad. Single app still takes the screen. If others are restored from disk or just go to foreground when you activate them shouldn't matter much. Curios about last iPhone update: was it 4.0? Because 4.1+ run OK on iPhone 3G.

Has anyone installed the update already? How was it?

The GM has been working fine for me for a couple of weeks now, though I admit I don't use the device that heavily. The only regression IMO is the orientation lock -> mute switch change, everything else is for the better.

There are some changes in how UIKit handles some rendering edge cases (literally - e.g. edges of images) which will probably affect some apps until they get fixed.

I've been running the betas on my iPad for awhile now and it is really pretty great having the multitasking support. Like the iPhone, it's mostly not "real" multitasking, so when it comes to interruptions and the like you shouldn't have to worry about that. The iPad also has considerably more RAM than the iPhone 3G had, so it can keep a lot of apps in memory at once and the switching becomes reasonably seamless and quick. During the betas, 4.2 was often very slow, but as soon as it went GM performance jumped significantly. As far as I can tell, it's just as fast as 3.2 was - only with all the added benefits of the new features.

More discussions: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1929723

My review:

http://lumma.org/temp/iPadiOS4.html

Reply on news.ycombinator.com