iPad OS 4.2 update detailed on Apple website…

The iPad is a beautiful thing – of that there can be no doubt. It is however, at present, a bit hamstrung by its OS, which is several steps behind the new iPhone OS 4 in the functionality stakes.

Fear not faithful eReaders, for there is an update afoot and to get you better aquainted with it, Apple has posted a Coming Soon page for the new iPad Update OS 4.2 on its website, detailing all of the cool new features you can look forward to.

Probably the most relevant for you lot will be multi-tasking – meaning you can switch effortlessly between reading the App version of Spectra Magazine and commenting about how great it is on our website, which naturally, you will have open in at least one tab in the iPad’s Safari browser all the time. You could also read the mag and then tweet about its wondrous showcasing of the written word, all without having to quit either App, or drain the battery unnecessarily.

The other part of the update that’s bound to appeal to the Spectra crowd, is the keyboard and dictionary, which, when the iBook version of Spectra Magazine goes live, should make it nice and easy to search within the text and point out any typos we’ve missed – not that the omnipotent editorial overminds that oversee Spectra’s copy would ever miss one (ahem).

At any rate, in addition to these Spectra-relevant enhancements, iPad owners can look forward to Game Centre support, wireless printing, Airplay (which allows wireless streaming of media back and forth between the iPad and the new Apple TV), an improved Mail app and Folders for keeping everything organized.

iPad OS 4.2 is due to drop a little later than first announced, in November (which is almost certainly not ‘the fall’ and absolutely definitely ‘deepest darkest winter’ in our book), so though you still have a couple of months to wait, there is light on the horizon.

The delay is a bit of an annoyance – especially given that iPhone users will have been enjoying these new features for upwards of 3 months when the iPad update arrives – not to mention the fact that a new version of the iPad could very well be announced as soon as six months after the update goes live.

Ahh, Apple, the tricks you pull…