At today’s iPad 2 media event, solid details were revealed about the upcoming iOS 4.3 release.
Unsurprisingly, iOS 4.3 will make its debut on the same day that the iPad 2 is officially available for sale; March 11th.
What’s interesting is that one notable Apple product in particular was left out of the iOS 4.3 goodness — the CDMA based Verizon iPhone 4…
The slide presentation at Apple’s media event noted specifically that the iPhone’s 4.3 release was for GSM only.
This could mean that the firmware releases for the Verizon iPhone will always be asymmetrical when compared to the GSM iPhone firmware releases.
The good news for Verizon users is that you already have one of the big features being touted for iOS 4.3 — personal hotspot. The bad news is that you don’t get all of the other features that Apple’s thrown in.
Here are some of the things that we can expect from iOS 4.3:
AirPlay Enhancements
Get even more play out of AirPlay — the wireless technology that lets you stream content from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your HDTV via Apple TV.1 In addition to music, movies, and photos, AirPlay now streams video from your Photos app. So you can shoot a home video and instantly share it with everyone in the room. Even AirPlay-enabled apps and websites get the big-screen treatment with iOS 4.3. And if your photos are the feature presentation, you can play a slideshow with all the stunning themes available on Apple TV.
Safari Performance
As you surf the web, your fingers will love the responsiveness of the new Nitro JavaScript engine powering Safari. It runs JavaScript up to twice as fast as in iOS 4.2.2Which means you get more speed behind each page load. And sites with lots of interactive features can appear on your screen even faster.
iTunes Home Sharing
Now you can play your entire iTunes library from anywhere in the house. If it’s on your Mac or PC, you can play it on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch over a shared Wi-Fi network.3 And not just music. Watch a movie or TV show. Play a podcast. Or listen to an audiobook. On whichever device you want — without having to download or sync.
Personal Hotspot for iPhone 4
On the road, in an airport, at the park — now you can bring Wi-Fi with you wherever you go. Download iOS 4.3 on your iPhone 4, and the next time you find yourself without access to Wi-Fi but in 3G territory, enable Personal Hotspot and share your cellular data connection with your Mac, PC, iPad, or other Wi-Fi-capable device. You can share your connection with up to five devices at once over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB — with up to three of those connections using Wi-Fi.4 Every connection is password protected and secure. And it’s power friendly, too. iPhone detects when your Personal Hotspot is no longer in use and turns it off to save battery life.
All that’s good and all, but the real news is that we will likely see an unlock for the iPhone 4 shortly after iOS 4.3 is released.
Are you happy that we finally have a release date?