Tommy Collison

When iOS 4, the new software for iPhones and iPod Touches, came out, there was pretty much only one application I was really, really looking forward to: the rest were just handy updates.

Turns out, the functionality required for the app I wanted (Last.FM background scrobbling) isn’t supported under Apple API, so I’d have to jailbreak (again) if I wanted that functionality. Having had a jailbroken iPhone as well as a non-jailbroken phone, I can honestly say that the amount of hassle caused by it is not proportional to gain, and I bricked my iPhone (saved it though, only just!) on more than one occasion.

The iPhone was already a revolutionary device – but its potential was horrendously limited by the inability to run apps in the background. Skype, MSN and radio applications like 2 FM all worked, but what if you got a call or a text you needed to respond to? Everything stopped, unfortunately.

That is iOS 4′s greatest feature. I can Skype in the background while texting, I can stay signed into MSN as I double check figures in an email and I can use WunderRadio no different to the iPod.

WunderRadio (Link — will open in iTunes on a computer or, awesomely, the App Store if you’re on your iPhone at the moment) is an internet radio application. At €5.49, it’s on the higher end of the scale for iPhone apps but wholly worth it. I’m currently listening to KUWL (cool?), a jazz-only radio station operated by the University of Wyoming.

An example of the type of stuff played:

Link: