Review: iPad's iOS4.2 software brings welcome features, snags

Apple's eagerly anticipated iOS 4.2 mobile software upgrade finally reaches the iPad today. The free upgrade addresses shortcomings in Apple's otherwise prized tablet software and will feel familiar to iPhone 4 owners who can already exploit some of the latest stunts. (Today's update also brings new capabilities to the iPhone and iPod Touch. )
As on the iPhone, you can now organize iPad apps into folders to reduce screen clutter and make them a cinch to find. For example, you can put all your music apps in one folder, all your movie-related programs in another and so on.
The iPad also catches up on multitasking, meaning you can run numerous apps simultaneously and easily switch among them. I listened to the Pandora and Slacker music apps in the background while I surfed the Web, read email and played games.

The upgrade isn't mandatory, and this will eventually be a no-brainer addition. But I do want to raise some caution flags. I hit a few bumps testing near-final-release software over a few days—most notably a newly vaunted wireless print feature, which performed erratically. And after initially launching the Netflix app on my test iPad, the app got stuck on the same gray screen. Even after relaunching the app, I couldn't get it to go beyond that screen.
Toktumi sent out an email last week warning anyone running the company's Line2 Internet phone-calling app to hold off upgrading. Apparently there was a problem in which the ringer would continue to ring in the background even after an incoming call was answered. I couldn't duplicate the problem in my tests on an iPad that had Line2 installed, perhaps because a fix was already made on the version I was using.
Here's a closer look at my experiences:
*AirPrint. If you own a compatible Wi-Fi printer, you can wirelessly print photos, Web pages and emails from the iPad. AirPrint is also coming Monday to the iPhone and iPod Touch. My own Hewlett-Packard Wi-Fi printer isn't compatible with this new AirPrint feature, so I borrowed another model from HP. I was able to print pictures and pages from the Safari browser, but not consistently. Even after I'd successfully printed one snapshot, the iPad served up a "Looking for Printers…" indicator followed by "No Printers Found" message when I tried to print another. To get it to work, I tried turning the printer on and off and closed and then re-launched the Photos app on the iPad. Sometimes those measures succeeded and sometimes they didn't.
From the software on the iPad, you can indicate how many prints you want. Without any additional setup, the software correctly determined that when I opted to print a picture, it should spit out the results on photo paper while a Web page printed out on plain 8 ½-by-11 sheet of paper.
*AirPlay. You can also take advantage of an AirPlay feature that lets you wirelessly stream movies, music and pictures from the iPad to an Apple TV box (or certain speakers and receivers) to watch on a big screen TV. It's one of my favorite features. I was able to switch back and forth between watching movies on the iPad or on the TV. You can only watch one screen at a time, and you can only stream a movie that originates on the iPad.
I got AirPlay to work streaming pictures too, but noticed that the interval between slides seemed off. In some instances, a picture jumped more quickly to the next slide than it did running the same slideshow on the iPad. Music also hiccupped on occasion. And the little AirPlay icon to switch from the iPad to Apple TV or back wasn't always present.
Monday's update also brings AirPlay to the iPhone and iPod Touch.
*Multitasking. This feature works just like on the iPhone. You double-click the home button to make a tray or shelf appear with all the icons for the most recently used apps. You tap the app that you want front and center. Of course, multitasking on the iPad is different than it is on a PC or Mac in that you can only display one app on the screen at the same time. There wasn't a noticeable hit on battery life, even as I kept several apps running at once.
*Folders. Organizing apps by folders is as simple as dragging one related app on top of another. The software automatically names the folder (Entertainment, Utilities, etc.) though you can change the suggested name. The feature worked as advertised, though some of the icons were a little finicky as I tried dragging them on top of another.
*Mail. The big addition here, again matching a feature already on the iPhone, is a welcome universal inbox that houses all the email accounts you have on the tablet. Previously, you had to open each individual inbox to check mail in that particular account, which you still have the option of doing. You can also organize mail by thread or conversation.
*MobileMe. The Find My iPad (or iPhone) feature that previously required a $99 a year MobileMe subscription is now free. Through the feature, you can remotely locate the whereabouts of a missing device, sound an alarm and display a message that will hopefully catch the attention of the person who found it and, if all else fails, remotely wipe the contents of the device. The MobileMe membership requirement is also lifted for owners of the iPhone and latest (4th generation) iPod Touch.
*Game Center. Apple has added its social gaming arena to the iPad. Through Game Center, you can post scores, compete against friends or get auto-matched against strangers. The person you're playing against can't tell if you're on an iPad or iPhone.
*Find text on Web pages. Now when you type a search term in the Google field in Safari, you can find text matches on the page you have open. It's not immediately obvious you can even do this—the "On This Page" matches appear below "Google Suggestions" for Web searches.
Apple continues to tweak its software so many of the stumbling blocks I encountered may go away by the time the upgrade reaches the public. I hope so, because iOS 4.2 for the iPad brings worthwhile features that will make Apple's best-of-breed tablet that much richer.