iOS 4.3 beta is now available for download to developers. As of iOS 4.3, Apple has discontinued firmware updates for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G. iOS 4.3 also brings a lot of exciting new features for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV 2G.

iOS 4.3 Features:

Personal Hotspot

iOS 4.3 brings the recently rumored Personal Hotspot for GSM iPhones which turns your iPhone into a Wi-Fi router. It works over AT&T but you need to sign up for the tethering plan. [BGR]

New Multi-touch Gestures to iPad

iOS 4.3 beta contains a preview of new Multi-Touch gestures for iPad [Gizmodo]. You can use four or five fingers to:

• Pinch to the Home Screen
• Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
• Swipe left or right to switch between apps.

AirPlay for third-party apps, Web apps

The first beta of iOS 4.3 significantly expands AirPlay functionality for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. In 4.3 beta 1, developers of third-party native iOS apps and third-party Web apps can now utilize AirPlay functionality. Before this, only native Apple applications can make use of AirPlay, which allows multimedia content to be streamed wirelessly from iOS devices and Mac computers to compatible hardware.

New FaceTime icon

iOS 4.3 brings a redesigned FaceTime icon for iPod Touch 4G. [9to5mac]

Full Screen iAds

First beta od iOS 4.3 also brings full screen iAds banners on the iPad. “iAd full screen banners grab the attention of the user by taking advantage of the larger screen of iPad to launch an immersive interactive iAd experience. This new banner format is easy to implement.”

Configurable slide switch for iPad

iOS 4.3 lets users decide whether the hardware switch above the volume buttons on the iPad controls mute or rotation lock in Settings. [Macstories]

New Camera Effects

iSpazio found an info.plist in the updated SDK that hints at some Photo Booth like new camera effects. Check out the screenshot of the findings in the updated SDK which could be implemented in Camera app:

• Thermal Camera
• X-ray
• Kaleidoscope
• Normal
• Tunnel of Light
• Collapse
• Turbine
• Enlarge

New Message alert settings

iOS 4.3 comes with the ability to choose how often repeat the alert (from one to 10 times).

New Keyboard Layout

iOS 4.3 includes a new, semi-transparent keyboard layout, which turns out to be even semi-transparent. The keyboard is even more responsive now. [macstories]

New look for App Store Updates

iOS 4.3 also brings a new look for App Store Updates screen. [Macstories]

0

New Font

“Noteworthy”, a new font added to iPad.

1

HTTP Live Streaming Statistics

Added new API for AVFoundation which allows you to obtain detailed statistics on how many people are watching your videos, how long they are watching them, and performance metrics like observed bitrate and number of dropped frames.

We already learned that the software includes several new features and changes. However, there’s more to the story than what meets the eyes. iOS 4.3 Beta includes a number of bug fixes, improvements, and enhancements for many of the existing features and functionality.

The change logs also lists some of the known issues, which we can probably expect to be fixed with future releases. Check out the official change log below:

iOS 4.3 Change Log:

Known issues:

Telephony

• MMS pictures are rotated 90 degrees
• Delay in activating FaceTime after SIM swap
• Delay when zooming in and out in Safari
• FTP tool sometimes errors out

Wi-Fi

• If SIM card is removed with personal hotspot is enabled, iPhone panics

Bluetooth

• D2D apps are not opening

Other

• Sound remains on even though the device is muted

Issues Fixed Since iOS 4.3 8F5132f

Accessibility

• Fixed issue that prevented controls from being dismissed in some cases
• Addressed issue where the keyboard could not be brought back when highlighting and swiping through search results
• Voice over now reads the entire chart in stocks app while in landscape mode

AirPlay

• Fixed slideshow stop after 15 image when using AirPlay

• Baseband& Telephony
• Bluetooth
• CalDAV

• iPhone -> 04.08.00
• Enabled Traffic Volume Indicator IE in CELL UPDATE
• Fixed issue with integrity protection failing after SRNS relocation
• Fixed issue of iPhone units deactivating and not activating after baseband logging is enabled
• iPad -> 07.11.00
• Fixed issue of Physical channel reconfiguration failure during a reselection procedure
• Fixed issue of the UE missing a page because it is decoding and responding to RRC Setup messages meant for other UEs

• Fixed incorrect auto routing with LG HBM-210 on FaceTime calls

• Fixed canceled recurring calendar events still shows on the event list

Calendar

• Fixed deleting a recurring events make the alarm go away
• Fixed all-day alarm fired an hour early

Exchange

• Fixed exchange calendar event duplicating when passing Israeli daylight savings time

Fonts

• Letter ? is now visible in notes

Keyboard

• Fixed missing accented letters in European keyboard popups
• Increase font size for China and Pinyin inputs
• Fixed auto-correction issue when switch back from Emoji to English keyboard
• Added inline space with Pingyin inputs
• Corrected “Undo” translation in Simplified Chinese to “??”

Localization

• Updated inconsistent translation in Chinese, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese,
• Fixed missing Chinese characters in Pinyin
• Improved common phrases used in Chinese
• Improved common phrased used in Japanese
• ???? is no longer missing
• Fixed issue that produced unexpected output when trying to type ??????
• ??? now ranked higher than ???
• Word completion candidates capability now available for Chinese language
• Added additional common phrases for character ?
• Fixed issue that caused the wrong candidates to be displayed (J: “?????”) when “?????” is input
• “??(???)” now in the candidate

Mail

• Fixed orientation of mail application not following device orientation under specific conditions
• Fixed popover when drilling into a thread while the empty search field is focused
• Fixed mail message view and orientation when quickly selecting a message and hitting edit mode
• Messaging
• Phone
• Status bar
• Fixed MMS messages with vCards scrolling up
• Fixed screen not drawing properly when Nike+ is in the background
• Added new icon for wifi tethering for personal hotspot on status bar

Web

• Fixed issue that caused Safari and other apps to crash after loading certain heavy Websites
• WiFi
• VoiceOver
• Fixed Personal Hotspot password failure with 22+ characters
• Added support to for “find” in Safari

We’ll update this post as more information is available. As usual, stay tuned for more news and info by following us on Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

Fixed wallpaper titles for VoiceOver

Authors: _GadgetNews

to know more click here