iOS 4.2 for the iPad: Hands-On

22.11.2010
Down: Actually Updating the iPad

I can't speak for Mac users, but updating iOS devices through iTunes on a PC is a chore on par with defragmenting your hard drive. Chances are, you'll first have to update iTunes--download, install, and restart. Then, once your computer's rebooted, you have to download and install the iOS update itself, and the whole process can take more than a half hour. Put over-the-air updates on the top of your .

Up: Folders

I use more apps on the iPad than I do on the iPhone--and folders are basically a necessity. The iPad's folders work the same as before--drag one app on top of another to rename it--but now you can stuff 20 apps into a folder instead of 12. Folders within folders are still too much for Apple to handle, but not entirely necessary, either.

Down: Software Orientation Lock

There are two camps on iPad rotation lock. One group says the hardware switch above the volume rocker should be used as a mute button, because it's the same function as the hardware switch on the iPhone, and because muting is useful. I'm in , which thinks the iPad needs a hardware orientation lock for all the shifting around you might do while reading on a couch or in bed. The software switch is too inconvenient to reach for such a handy feature. iOS 4.2 makes the hardware switch into a mute button, instead of a software orientation lock. Of course, the easy solution would be to give users the choice, but that's just not how Apple does things.