Since the release of iPhone OS 4 Beta 4, all the developers around the world is looking for the changes it brought to iPhone from previous beta release. The major exciting news was AT&T’s new Internet Tethering setup wizard in settings.

Now, we’ve few more updates on the new features: Difference in default home screen, new wallpapers, Group Messaging, Photo app orientation, change in Phone call & Maps.

The default home screen of the iPhone use to have all Apps spread on first home screen and one app, that is Contacts use to be at second home screen. But in this latest beta 4 release, we found that all Utilities like Clock, Calculator, Compass & Voice Memos are put up in the folder called Utilities, which make the home screen looks different.

Some new default wallpapers has been added, which gives pleasant look to the home screen background. This new home screen background feature introduced in OS 4 makes you feel weird, because it’s completely hidden actually under the apps. It seems these wallpapers has been designed keeping this new look in mind.

Now, you can toggle off Group Messaging in Settings. This was earlier not there and by default you can send group messages on iPhone.

Photo App orientation, an ability to view images in landscape mode. I think this is exciting tweak. We usually shoot picture in landscape on iPhone and to view this shot picture we need to rotate back to portrait mode. This gonna help us a lot! Especially, for those who are found of shooting pictures on iPhone and view full camera roll at once.

There are some major performance improvements done to Phone and Maps app. There is no sluggishness in receiving phone call  while you’re working on your iPhone. Maps seems more snappier than ever.

Till now, these are the changes found in iPhone OS 4 Beta 4. Let us know if you found some new tweaks and features in this release, via comments.

The name Prince of Persia probably makes you think, Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time. But if you’re an old gamer since 80s or 90s then you must know that there was an original Prince of Persia which is all time favorite of many gamers.

The original game was released in 1989, it boasted amazing animation, great puzzles, addictive gameplay and an incredibly eerie atmosphere, was first ported to Apple II later to PC and other platforms. The same version of the game is now being ported into iPhone with the name “Prince of Persia Retro”.

What’s so exciting about this game is, you’ll get addicted to it even after playing the latest games of same genre, nothing can beat this in terms of simplicity and the great character / pseudo.

This iPhone game was due to be released by he developers, Ubisoft on 29th April but it’s still not available in the app store. Hopefully, it’ll appear there soon.

If you’re an iPhone developer with access to a paid developer account with Apple, you can upgrade your iPhone to the latest beta 4 release from Apple’s official developer site.

This latest beta release seems to have got the long overdue feature, that is Internet Tethering. This feature was actually introduced in iPhone OS 3 last year but was never served by AT&T to their customers. According to experts, it’s because AT&T’s network is not capable of handling huge data traffic. Recently, AT&T announced that they’ve updated their network to reach out to many users. And so, the iPhone OS 4 beta 4 release has a sign of it.

Now, iPhone OS 4 Beta 4 allows users to setup a new tethering account either by calling or visiting their site. This clearly shows that, AT&T has taken an action to serve their customers.

As this is just a beta release, the look and feel of the new tethering set up wizard might vary with final release.

Tawkon developers who developed an app to help users to measure the cellular radiation were invited at Apple, Cupertino.

Tawkon for iPhone was earlier rejected by Apple. Now, when the same App is available for download at BlackBerry AppStore for BlackBerry devices, Apple decided to open their private API to Tawkon guys to make their app full fledge for iPhone.

Basically, the major difference is that the app which was submitted to Apple for iPhone was not background aware whereas the BlackBerry App is. So, when the user is on call on his / her BlackBerry device, it prompt user about the cellular radiation frequency right away as it is running in background already. But an iPhone, which is not capable of running apps in background was not doing the same.

Gil Friedlander, Tawkon’s CEO said, that they’re closely working with Apple’s iPhone Application Technology team to get the Tawkon App to the AppStore.

As an iPhone developer, I suspect that the Tawkon App was earlier rejected because, the new iPhone OS 4 being background / multitasking aware (ability to run more than one app simultaneously) is incapable of making Tawkon App background aware through those 7 standard APIs provided by Apple in iPhone 4 SDK.

Now, when Apple has offered to open up their private API specially for these iPhone developers it is likely that we will very soon see the Tawkon app in the appstore and it will be completely background aware.

Tweetie 2, suddenly disappeared from AppStore. I suspect that Twitter for iPhone gonna debut real soon.

Tweetie 2 was acquired by Twitter last month and it’s developer Loren Brichter was recruited by Twitter to make Tweetie 2 as Twitter’s official app, which is planned to be renamed as Twitter for iPhone.

Couple of weeks back Tweetie 2 users received an update 2.1.2a with Slot Machine tease which shows a banner with “Tweetie will be Twitter for iPhone” when we drag to refresh the timeline.

This probably shows that. Tweetie will not get an update with “Twitter for iPhone” makeover. It’s going to be a completely new app. If you like the existing Tweetie 2, you can simply backup your app before you upgrade to Twitter for iPhone app. At the moment we can’t say whether Tweeite is removed by the developer or by Apple. If it’s removed by Apple, it can either be update to existing app or a completely new one. If it’s removed by the developer it means only one thing and that is, Twitter for iPhone will be a different new app and not be an update to the existing one.

Apple recently filed a new patent application that describes serving proximity based or location based apps temporarily on a users iPhone or other mobile device. The content would be managed by a central server that would pair a users device location as relayed by the Wi-fi connection or other geo aware features and deliver appropriate applications that the users might like to use in that particular location.

Apple sighted two examples for this. In one they mention, when an iPhone user nears a restaurant, he might be able to get some temporary apps on his screen that tells him the wait time and also there can be an app that would allow him to go through the menu while still waiting to be seated.

Similarly this Apple patent can be used by people in public libraries to get a temporary iPhone app that would allow them to search the library database right on their iPhone without having to log in to the networked computers of the library.
These temporary apps would disappear as soon as the user exits the location.

This would definitely open up a very interesting aspect for iPhone developers as this service is sure to initiate a surge in iPhone application development for local businesses. Also because Apple would be using the users location data to serve this temporary apps, that might just stir up the privacy question once again. Besides, iPhone developers have always wanted to use the user’s location data to make their apps more interesting but now that Apple is opening the door for itself, it is sure to increase the developer’s demand for using such information in their other types of iPhone applications.

While iPhone developers like us are speculating on what could be the new features for the next generation iPhone, it seems some of the 4th generation iPhone prototype are finding their way to market – one way or the other. A few days back Gizmodo reported such an incident and today another 4th generation iPhone prototype was reported in Vietnam.

This one seems to be a little different from the one seen during the Gizmodo incident as it does not have the screws at the bottom, also it is marked as a 16 GB device. Its a pre-production model and has several placeholders on it, however, the front facing camera seems to be a pretty sure thing.

The photos appear at TaoViet.vn and rumors are that a Vietnamese businessman bought this one in USA along with an iPad.

From the perspective of an iPhone developer, I am already excited to think about the various possibilities with this new iphone with camera. This camera can definitely play a pivotal role for various iPhone apps and this is sure to take iPhone app development to a new height.

iPhone OS 4 Beta 3 seems to be quite more stable than that of Beta 2 of iPhone OS 4. It has brought some great tweaks which all the iPhone developers were looking forward to.

The most important feature which was lacking during the previous beta release of iPhone OS 4 was to quit more than one running App at a time. In order to quit the App we need to tap and hold the running App in App switcher, apps wiggle and has red minus symbol to quit the app. Until now, the app which you were tapping and holding to quit, only that app was showing red minus symbol. In this release, that has been resolved and now whatever app you press and hold to wiggle, all has red minus symbol to quit the app in App Switcher.

Now, the most important feature which every iPhone user were waiting for, since the release of 1st generation iPhone in 2007 – the ability to lock the screen orientation. When the iPhone was first unveiled in 2007, the accelerometer was very unique feature of it. Turn to landscape for landscape orientation and back to portrait for portrait orientation of screen; in Safari, Photos, etc. It was the beginning of iPhone. Now, it has completely changed the way you do your day-to-day work. People were finding problem with it. We can’t read New York Times easily when we are in our bed, it change its orientation too frequent. Now, in Beta 3 release of iPhone OS 4, lock orientation has been added which I believe is the major tweak that iPhone developers would love. Earlier iPhone application developers had to add their own screen lock orientation feature in their App.

There is one more feature spotted. The iPod controls widget in App Switcher. When we double tap the Home Screen key the App Switcher shows up. Now, if we just slide to extreme left we will find the iPod controls & a screen orientation lock key.

Overall, this Beta release of iPhone OS 4 is more stable than any other previous Beta releases of iPhone OS 4. We’re still fetching some more update info on it. If you’ve spotted some more updates on this just fill us up through the comment form.