What is New in iOS 4.3
The Apple iOS has been constantly evolving since its release in 2007 as the default operating system for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. With more than 300,000 applications launched on the iOS platform, it has captured more than 50% of the mobile web consumption market. Recognizing the requirements of users, the Apple developer team has corrected many bugs left over in the earlier versions and added several new features for each of the devices. In this Buzzle article, I review the most important new features in iOS 4.3.
About iOS Version 4.3
The equivalent of Apple's Mac OS X on the mobile platform, iOS ranks among the top three mobile operating systems in the world today, along with Android and Symbian. Due to its Mac OS X lineage, iOS is a Unix based system geared up to work with touch screen gestures and direct manipulation. The iOS 4.3 release date was eagerly awaited by all Apple gadget users as it promised a large number of new features and I daresay, it has indeed been worth the wait.
Released 2 days before the iPad 2, this version comes with a range of software bugs from the earlier versions fixed and an addition of several new features. On March 25, 2011, a version 4.3.1 was released to fix some more bugs. Let us see what are the new features that you can look forward to, in this new version, as an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad user.
What is New in iOS 4.3 for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad?
There are hundreds of minute improvements made by Apple developers in this new version. I shall highlight the most important features for you here. For more detailed information about the bug fixed refer to the release details on Apple Website.
Personal Hotspot for Wi-Fi Tethering
The earlier versions of the iOS didn't provide a Wi-Fi tethering facility for the iPhone, which made people jailbreak the phone for third party Wi-Fi tethering applications. There is no need to jailbreak the phone anymore with iOS 4.3 introducing a native 'Personal Hotspot' feature, which lets you share your iPhone's wireless Internet connection with up to 5 devices simultaneously. AT&T, as well as Verizon have offered a special data pack for Wi-Fi tethering which you can take advantage of, to use this new feature. This feature only works with iPhone 4G.
iTunes Library Home Sharing
Using the home sharing feature, you can now share any music or videos on your home network and play them on your iPhone, iPod or iPad. You can watch all the videos and music on your home computer on your iPad or iPhone using this feature. Another newly introduced feature is support for Airplay service (which lets you stream media on Apple TV, from Apple devices) to work with third party applications.
Faster Safari Browser With 'Nitro' Javascript Engine
The introduction of the Nitro Javascript engine is expected to speed up the performance of the native Safari browser, shipped with the iOS. Expect your webpages to load faster than before. Besides these important additions, rest of the changes are mostly bug fixes in previous launched applications and redesigning of features in some applications.
So these were the prime features to look forward to in the new iOS 4.3. Personally, I found the 'Personal Hotspot' function, which lets you convert your iPhone 4 into an Internet hotspot, to be the best of the new features. The iTunes home sharing feature is another great addition, making it easy to share your library music over the Wi-Fi connection. The new scrubbing menu for videos is one more feature which you should particularly check out.
