There was a rumor that didn’t pan out yesterday about iOS 4.3 dropping, but today it’s here. At 1:00 p.m. EST, the update became available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users via iTunes. The new update brings a host of new features, like the personal hotspot that will allow you to share your iPhone’s data connection with up to five users.
You’ll also get AirPlay, which will allow you to share videos from your iOS device’s camera album and lets you enable third-party apps, websites and iTunes previews on your Apple TV. Safari is supposed to be faster with an enhanced JavaScript engine, you can do HD video out with Apple’s AV connector, and more.
Messaging features include an additional number of times you can repeat alerts in case you miss it the first or second time. The iPad’s switch can now be used as a lock-screen switch, like it was when before iOS 4.2, or you can keep it as a mute button if you’d like.
There are also a number of general bug fixes, so go and download the update and let us know how it goes for you! Stay tuned as we give you a quick video walkthrough of the new features. Do note that if you have apps purchased from Cydia, and your iPhone is jailbroken or unlocked, this update will break those features and you’ll go back to having a device as Apple intended. If you want to keep your phone jailbroken or unlocked, wait a few days or weeks when the jailbreak is released.
Check out the photo gallery below for a few screenshots of the changelog.