IPhone 3.0 is Coming Tomorrow: Here is What You Can Expect
When Apple announced the new 3.0 version of its iPhone operating system last week, the company focused on a number of major additions to the phone's bag of tricks: cut, copy, and paste; push notifications; new features for Safari; MMS; the ability to use the keyboard in landscape mode in Apple's apps like Mail, Notes, and Messages; as well as the new Spotlight search. All of these are important updates, but Apple also made a number of smaller updates to the firmware that it didn't stress at WWDC, including better scrubbing controls in the iPod app, new features for playing back podcasts, and the ability to sign in to YouTube to sync bookmarks and easily find and play your own videos.
In this post, we will have a closer look at the updates that are coming to the iPhone tomorrow, with a special focus on some of the features that Apple hasn't talked about much yet.
Update: the 3.0 update is now available. Just plug your phone in and hit 'check for update' in iTunes.
Search Everywhere
In everyday use, maybe the most important update to iPhone 3.0 is that search is now built-in everywhere. The Spotlight feature, which you activate by scrolling to the left of your first home screen, lets you search for contacts, songs, apps, email, etc. But maybe even more importantly, the iPod and Mail apps now also feature search, which, especially in the Mail app was sorely missed in earlier incarnations of the OS.
If you get your email from an IMAP server, you can also continue your searches on the server. In Mail, you can search by sender, recipient, subject, and inside emails as well.
Overall, these new search features didn't just work very well, but results also appear very quickly.
Cut, Copy, and Paste
We already knew how cut, copy, and paste would work in iPhone 3.0, and there are few surprises in the finalized version of this much anticipated new feature. You just click and hold a word you want to copy, and the copy dialog immidiately appears. One nice aspect of this is that once you get beyond a paragraph, the feature will switch into paragraph mode, where you can select complete paragraphs instead of having to go word-by-word.
Of course, nothing is quite perfect, and there are some issues with copy and paste on the iPhone. We often inadvertently activated this feature by lingering just a little bit too long before moving our fingers up or down while scrolling through a web page.
One new feature related to copy and paste that we noticed was that in Safari, you now get a new menu when you click and hold a link for a second or two. Safari now gives you a choice to open the link in a new tab/page, or you can copy the location of the link (handy if you want to send somebody a link to a web site, for example).
iPod: Slow Scrubbing, Shake to Shuffle, Faster Podcast Playback
The iPhone app got a few interesting updates besides search. In earlier versions, it was pretty hard to quickly get to a particular spot in an audio file, as the controls were rather imprecise. In this new version, Apple has changed the behavior of this feature. As you move your finger further down from the time line, the app will go into 'half-speed,' 'quarter-speed,' and 'fine scrubbing' mode.
Buy and Download Movies, TV Shows, Audiobooks
Until now, iPhone users had to rely on iTunes on their desktops to buy and download anything but single songs. Given that the App Store always allowed users to download install apps directly from the phone, which can often be quite large, this seemed increasingly antiquated. Now, you can also buy and download movies, TV shows, music videos, and audiobooks directly over the air. On cell networks, however, the same 10MB file limit that applies to podcasts and apps also applies here.
Share More than One Photo at a Time
Apple stressed the fact that you can now email more than one photo during it's original 3.0 announcement, but didn't really focus on it during the WWDC keynote. We think this is a really handy (and long overdue) feature.
Sadly, though, Apple still restricts the number of photos you can directly share from the Photo app to 5, though you can actually copy and paste as many photos as you wish into an email, which makes this restriction a bit odd.
Safari
Safari on iPhone 3.0 does feel a bit faster, but it is hard to say how much of this is simply a placebo effect. We did notice, though, that the browser did not freeze up for extensive periods while loading large and complicated sites anymore.
While Apple surely made a lot of changes under the hood, we did not notice any new features or updates to the app's look and feel (besides copy and paste, and the ability to copy a URL and force Safari to open up a new page when keeping a link pressed for a few seconds) .
Voice Memos
The Voice Memos app works as advertised. You press a button and the app records whatever reaches the microphone. We are not quite sure why Apple felt the need to create its own voice recorder, given that there are already plenty in the App Store. Besides the fact that you can easily attach your memos to email, one thing that does make Voice Memos stand out is its ability to run in the background, so that you can look at an email or web site while recording a memo, for example (a red bar at the top of the screen will remind you that you are still recording).
Find My iPhone/Remote Wipe
At Apple's WWDC, this feature really impressed the crowd, and in our tests, it turned out to work extremely well, though it's a shame that you need a MobileMe account to really use it.
Find My iPhone allows you to ping your phone from your online MobileMe account. If you lost your phone, for example, Find My iPhone will show a map with your phone's current location. You can also send a message to your phone and have it play a sound for up to two minutes (great when you know your phone is at home, but you can't find it anyway).
If you can't retrieve your phone, Find My iPhone will also allow you to perform a remote wipe, which will delete all the data on the phone, so your email won't fall into the wrong hands.
Other Updates: It's all About the Apps
Besides the updates we looked at in more detail above, Apple has obviously given developers the ability to hook into a large number of new APIs that, among other things, allow the phone to talk to third-party hardware devices or to connect phones over WiFi and Bluetooth to play games, and in app purchases, for example. Some of the new features, like Voice Control and the new compass will only be available on the new iPhone 3GS.
In this post, we only focused on the most interesting new features in the OS and Apple's own apps. We will have a closer look at the new features that developers can now make use of once we get access to the first apps that are able to send out push notifications, for example.
The update will be available for download tomorrow, June 17. IPhone users, including those who purchased the first, non-3G generation of the device will be able to download it for free. IPod touch users will have to pay $9.95.
If you really, really can't wait until tomorrow, you can also do what we did and just download the release that Apple gave to developers, after WWDC, from your favorite torrent site. Or, you can head over here and follow these instructions to download and install the update directly from Apple's servers. Of course, you do so at your own risk.
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About Safari: I hope loading the GMail app will be mucht faster.
Good heads up info.
Posted by: Mark Krynsky
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June 16, 2009 12:15 PM
I think A2DP Stereo Bluetooth is worth mentioning. Wireless headphones and car stereos (in my case).
-mike
@eelcoh - it sure does feel faster - not instantaneous, though
Stereo Bluetooth is definitely worth mentioning, as is the ability to sync Notes with Mail.app, which doesn't seem to be getting any coverage anywhere.
Find your phone and remote wipe? Brilliant! I've drunk the kool-aid, now I'm on board forever!
@casey and @michael - good point - I was more focused on the changes in the OS and the apps, but stereo bluetooth is indeed a nice new feature (and about time they added that one, too).
3G S graphics will be better than other mobile devises and even the PSP. This article goes into detail about the 3G S graphics. http://pfx.me/ho
Do we have confirmed time of the 3.0 availability. Is it midnight on the 17th?
The Voice Memos app doesn't work good at all. It's quiet even when you have the phone next to your face during recording. What it needs is "Microphone Sensitivity" adjustment setting to amp up your recordings. I'm sticking to the free Voice4mail app I downloaded, that's got the settings I want and need. I very big thumbs down for this new add on.
Agree about A2DP stereo - been waiting for a long time just to be able to use my Motorola stereo headset that I used to use with my old Windows Mobile phone!
I've blogged about setting this up with screenshots of the new feature at nonsenseinbasic.blogspot.com
Carlos
That's the best Apple can do in a new version? I was expecting more. Investors aren't happy with the thought of a $99 phone either.
Thanks for the heads up about scrubbing!
Looking forward to the update
I have posted a gallery of screenshots taken with a iphone 2g running the 3.0 update
does anyone see better battery life or camera quality ?
http://www.fonearena.com/blog/2009/06/16/apple-iphone-30-software-update-screenshots-and-camera-samples.html
Thanks for good information.
cant wait
Does anyone know whether Flash will be supported with Safari in the new 3.0 OS update? If not, are there any workarounds?
were is the update?
What about video recording? There's no mention of that but for me, that would be the most exciting feature?
have any of u got the update already?
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what time today???
waiting waiting ;)
I got my update 3.0 just a few min ago so maybe its starting slow to show up.
Aggravating that "available June 17th" didn't mean as of 6am ET it's available.... Apple...the new Microsoft? :)
Apple,
Don't make the download available to us early in the morning, lets clog the internet during peak hours for maximum time wasting. While you are at it, make an iPhone app that reminds you to update the servers when the clocks hit midnight, eastern.
.. errm i haven't got the 3.0 update =S, is that bad? i keep clicking UPDATE on itunes.. and it says 2.2.1 is the latest version!! grrr i live in Australia btw.
Can whoever HAS got the 3.0 downloaded post the link, pls?
BTW: Christos, you're trying update iTunes software there - not iPhone.
Great news. update my iPhone to be 3.0version .....lol.......
Just got home at 730am Eastern. Made sure I had the latest Itunes, tried to update to 3.0.....and it says 2.2.1 is the current version for the phone! Argh Apple!
im pissed off at apple right now. i was expecting to be able to download it at midnight!!! nope! tried agian at 1. nope 3 not yet 5 still waiting 7 getting agrivated 8 really pissed off right now
Im still waiting in the uk 13:08 hrs..!!!!! If it were a song that they can get money for through iTunes it would be out ASAP!!!! LOL.
just wanted to ask those who now have the new update where they live. just wanna see where the updates are taking place.
I'm in Australia, and I HAVEN'T got the update. Also, I note that on Apples's US it says available 17th of June, on the .au site it says 18th of June.
8:30 AM in South Carolina. Still no update.
Houston - not yet.
i have just phoned O2 and they told me that i should be available after 6pm GMT in the uk, but apple have not specified a time
Just read it has been delayed until tomorrow.....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/17/iphone_3/
I live in PA and I still can't get the update. Just tried a few seconds ago. WTF!!!
Does it work with the original iphone???
In Toronto, Wed morning 945am, stilll no update from Itunes?
1:53am - 18th of June in New Zealand still no update
Release has been pushed back to the 18th.
http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/softwareupdate/
Apple = #FAIL
First the 8th then the 17th now the 18th wtf apple you guys are making a lot of ppl very angry right now including me
Hey guys,
I have a link to all GM firmwares here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/l7v2sp
Ps. installed and work great on 2nd gen touch. Also this site has firmwares for ipod touch 1st and 2nd gen, Iphone 3G, And first gen iphone.
Thanks,
Kent
WTF Now the Apple site has the #iphone 3.0 release changed back to today the 17th!? CONFUSED #FAIL? http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/
The release date of the 18th is for anyone basically outside of the States. Due to the time difference it does make sense, supposedly it happens around 1800 on June 17th.
Peeps, how do you know the 1800 (6 pm) mark?
i was told 6pm tonight in the uk when i asked 02 yesterday
im downloading 3.0 now 1806 in the uk
thank fuck!
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