Apple iOS 4.2.1 puts Apple even higher up the tablet table

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 27 November 2010 00:11

Your IT - Mobility

Apple's iOS 4.2.1 has been eagerly downloaded by millions around the world, eager to enjoy the multifunctional benefits the update brings, while rumours of iOS 4.3 arriving in December won't stop, with jailbreaking hackers also having updated Cydia for 4.2.1 compatibility!

If you own an iPad, and you haven't yet upgraded to iOS 4.2.1, what are you waiting for?!

Yes, the download is over 500Mb in size, something that will take between one and two hours to download on most broadband connections, but once it's in place, your iPad becomes an iPad 1.5, a great little half-way point between the first iPad and its inevitable successor.

Naturally, there will be lots of iPads given away this Christmas as gifts, especially seeing as there are reports that kids want iPads more than consoles, even though the latest consoles all sport motion controlling systems.

The iPad has supported motion control from day one, and Christmas Day could prove to be a busy one for Apple's servers as iPads purchased before any iOS 4.2.1 update will notify users that a free update is available and should be downloaded.

Naturally, if you happen to find yourself or someone you know in this situation, and they ask you if it is worth downloading, the answer is yes!

Download it now and enjoy the many and varied benefits of the new OS, making the iPad an even better device that it was at launch, and finally synchronising all the iOS platforms.

Interestingly, those Christmas Day iPad recipients might not actually be directed to download iOS 4.2.1 at all, but instead iOS 4.3!

Not expected to arrive until sometime next year or even skipped altogether for an iOS 5.0, iOS 4.3 is being rumoured to arrive on December 9 where Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs are supposed to launch Rupert Murdoch's new 'The Daily' iPad newspaper.

Exactly why an 'app' would need its very own iOS update is interesting - it theoretically means that there'll be new functionality in the app that simply isn't available in the current iOS version, and if so, The Daily will presumably be the very first to use these new functions.

If that's the case, one then wonders how soon it will be before other apps can also take advantage of the same secret new features, whatever they are, or whether they'll be 'reserved' for Apple's own 'first party' apps or those Apple deems are extra special, as 'The Daily' is expected to be.

So even though iOS 4.2.1 has launched, the iOS bandwagon keeps on rolling and soon we may all find an iOS 4.3 at our disposal. Hopefully it will bring more than just support for The Daily but also some of the 'missing features' in iOS 4.2.1 seen in articles all over the Internet.

But, alas, we might have to wait for iOS 5.0 instead - we'll just have to wait and see.

Plenty more on page two, please read on!