Related Articles
Intermingled within Apple’s iPad 2 launch announcement today we got a glimpse of the new features available in the next iOS update, available March 11.
Two standout features in the new update include a new Wi-Fi hotspot feature for iPhone 4, allowing users to share their 3G connectivity with other devices wirelessly, and a media streaming tool called Home Share. Using the media stored on their iTunes library, users can use Home Share to stream music and movies from their PCs to their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOs 4.3. Coupled with the new proprietary HDMI cable, Home Share can turn your phone into your home media server, playing the movies on your computer on your much larger flat panel TV.
Adding to its media sharing story, Apple has also enhanced its AirPlay media streaming protocol to share media from an iOS device to an AirPlay compatible device, like an Apple TV unit. These enhancements will allow for the sharing of a wider range of media, including video from third-party apps and videos from the web.
Lastly, iOS 4.3 is expected to deliver an improved Safari web browsing experience on iOS devices. The new browser sports an improved JavaScript engine, according to Apple, and will make use of just-in-time compilation for JavaScript, similar to the browser found in recent Android smartphone releases. Apple is estimating a two-times speed improvement in JavaScript execution, which would put the Safari browser back on track with Android browsers in terms of speed, according to our recent tests of both, though there is still no sign of Apple supporting Flash elements on web pages on the horizon.
