Here’s a short list of what you can expect in the new iOS update for iPads, iPod Touches, and iPods if you are planning on downloading and installing it this weekend.
Multitasking and Folders on iPad
This shouldn’t be too surprising, as we knew it would come.
Airprint
Airprint enables you to print documents from your iPad or other iOS device without using any cables or drivers. The options for printing aren’t extremely detailed, just the range of what pages you want to print and the number of copies. Even though there were previously apps for this, this is still pretty cool.
Airplay
Seems like Apple is trying to get some started with “air” before products instead of “i”. With Airplay, you can stream media from your iOS device to your Apple TV. Seems kinda obvious that this was made so that more people would purchase Apple TV instead of Google TV, but if you have an iOS device and Apple TV, this is a pretty nice addition.
Finding Your Lost iOS Device
This was originally part of a paid MobileMe subscription, but now you can find your lost device for free, if that device is an iPhone or iTouch 4, or iPad, with iOS 4. After setting it up, you can view the device on a map, send a message or play a sound to help you find where it is, set a passcode lock from your computer, or wipe all the data. Of course, after retrieving it, you can restore everything from your last backup.
Improved Mail
Now you can view all your Mail from one account in one big inbox, instead of switching to different inboxes. You can also open attachments in third-party apps.
Improved Safari
Finally, you can search for text using Safari, instead of having to look for it manually.
More on the latest update over at Apple.
The 4.2 update applies to iPads, iPod Touches, and IPHONES, not iPods. The new features in the update for the iPhone (Airplay/Airprint) only apply to iPhone4, not 3Gs or 3G models. The 3Gs has now joined the 3G and original iPhone as “non-supported” on any future updates and new features, evidently. The 4.2 update was mainly to finally bring the iPad into an equality of function where the iPhone has been for almost a year now.
Thanks for pointing that out. When I wrote iPod’s, I thought people assumed IPod Touch.