Differences Between iOS 4.2 and iOS 4.3 Beta

an iOS 4.2 vs an iOS 4.3 Beta

iOS is the operating system on most Apple products including the iPhone, iPod, and most recently, the iPad. Versions 4.2 and 4.3 are just intermediate releases with the latter still in beta. Before we touch on what was added in the iOS 4.3 beta, let’s first touch on what was removed. The iOS 4.3 no longer supports the iPhone 3G, and any older variant of the iPhone, as well as the second generation iPod Touch. So if you own either of these, there is nothing here for you because you are basically stuck with iOS 4.2.

One major addition to the iOS 4.3 is the personal hotspot. This would allow your device to share Internet connectivity from your 3G connection via Bluetooth or WiFi. This makes it easy to share your Internet connection to friends that are close by.

Another addition to iOS 4.3 is the new gestures. The gestures include: ‘pinch’ to go back to the home screen, and ‘swipe up’ to reveal concurrently running applications, and ‘swipe down’ to hide them back. These new gestures provide a quicker way to go through the apps and do common tasks efficiently.

A change in iOS 4.2 that irked many users is the replacement of the rotation lock button as a mute button. There were many complaints about this change and why there is no option to control it. With iOS 4.3, users have the option on what they find most useful to them. Under ‘settings,’ you can choose whether the button acts as a mute or as a rotation lock.

Something quite minor is the addition of the ability to cancel downloading apps. With iOS 4.2 and older versions, the download needs to be finished before you can remove it from your system. With iOS 4.3, you can terminate the download anytime and not waste time or bandwidth in finishing the download. This is quite useful if you mistakenly downloaded the wrong application.

Summary:

1. iOS 4.2 supports the iPhone 3G and second generation iPod Touch while iOS 4.3 doesn’t.
2. iOS 4.3 can function as a personal hotspot while iOS 4.2 cannot.
3. iOS 4.3 adds new gestures that are not available in iOS 4.2.
4. The mute button in iOS 4.2 can also be used as a rotation lock in iOS 4.3.
5. iOS 4.3 can cancel app downloads while iOS 4.2 cannot.

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