While the official public release isn’t due until sometime later in November, Apple has seeded paid iOS developers with a Gold Master build of iOS 4.2 for the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4, iPod Touch 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation, and the iPad.
A new Xcode build and the corresponding iOS SDK is also available to paid developers.
The newly updated Apple TV hardware is also likely to be updated to iOS 4.2 at some point this month or early in December, however as there is no Apple TV developer program right now, Apple is not providing early access to iOS builds for that device.
As previously reported, the screen rotation lock button on the iPad is now going to be a mute button, which Apple mentions in the release notes for the iOS 4.2 GM seed:
The iPad screen rotation lock switch now functions as a sound/silent switch in iOS 4.2. This switch behaves the same way as the Ring/Silent switch on iPhone.
Those of you hoping that Apple would give users an option to change that button back to its previous function will be disappointed for now.
Also listed in the iOS 4.2 GM release notes is a short list of AirPrint compatible printers:
HP Photosmart Premium Fax e-All-in-One Printer – C410
HP Photosmart Premium e-All-in-One Printer series – C310
HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One Printer series – B210
HP ENVY 100 e-All-in-One Printer Series – D410
HP Photosmart eStation Printer series – C510
Now that iOS 4.2 is out of beta status, expect a release of Mac OS X 10.6.5 to be announced in the near future, as an upgrade on the desktop is needed to support AirPrint when not using a printer that natively supports wireless printing from an iOS device.
More updates coming soon……
