iPhone OS
From the iPhone Games Wiki, a database for iPhone/iPod Touch games that anyone can edit
The iPhone OS or OS X iPhone is the operating system developed by Apple Inc. for the iPhone and iPod Touch. iPhone OS has four abstraction layers: the Core OS layer, the Core Services layer, the Media layer, and the Cocoa Touch layer. The operating system takes less than half a gigabyte (GB) of the device's total memory storage.
This operating system did not have an official name until the release of the first beta version of the iPhone SDK on March 6, 2008. Before then, Apple marketing literature simply stated that the "iPhone uses OS X," a reference to Apple's desktop operating system, Mac OS X.
As of March, 2009, there are over 25,000 applications officially available for the iPhone and over 500 million have been downloaded from the App Store.
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[edit] Interface
The iPhone OS's user interface is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. The response to user input is supposed to be immediate to provide a fluid interface. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching. Additionally, using internal accelerometers, rotating the device on its y-axis alters the screen orientation in some applications.
[edit] Application support
The central processing unit used in the iPhone and iPod Touch is an ARM-based processor instead of the x86 processors used in Apple's Macintosh computers, and it uses OpenGL ES 1.1 rendering by the PowerVR 3D graphics hardware accelerator co-processor. Mac OS X applications cannot be copied to and run on an iPhone OS device. They need to be written and compiled specifically for the iPhone OS and the ARM architecture. However, the Safari web browser supports "web applications," as noted below. Authorized third-party native applications are available for devices with iPhone OS 2.0 through Apple's App Store.
[edit] The iPhone 3.0 OS
The iPhone OS 3.0 arrived this summer, it introduced over 100 new features, including the ability to:
- Search your iPhone
- Cut, copy, and paste
- Send photos, contacts, audio files, and location via MMS*
- Read and compose email and text messages in landscape
- Tether to peripheral devices including bluetooth speakers/headsets
- Provide turn by turn naviagation
- Auto-login to trusted WiFi networks
- VOIPÂ for voice chatting while in game
- Feature rumble support for gaming
- Control peripherals around the house
[edit] External links
- iPhone Dev Center on the Apple Developer Connection website
- iPhone OS on Wikipedia, which this article is based on
- 3.0 preview on Apple
