Several months ago, I wrote about the top 3 things that I felt were missing from the iPhone. This week, version 3 of the iPhone OS was released and I’m using it now. I don’t have the new iPhone 3Gs hardware – I’m running on the “old” iPhone 3G hardware, but since that’s the bulk of the installed base right now I figured it might be useful to share my findings here.
| Gripe | Status |
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I couldn’t cut & paste.
|
Fixed – and it works very well in iPhone OS v3. |
|
I couldn’t invite others to appointments (i.e. initiate meeting requests).
|
Fixed – it works fairly well. Would like to be able to check the availability of other attendees, but at least I can invite people to meetings. |
|
I couldn’t attach / forward contact information to others.
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Fixed – it is now possible to “Share” contact, which opens an email and attaches the contact as a .vcf file, which is fairly standard. |
The v3 OS update is free for iPhone owners (iPod Touch owners must pay $10 for some reason) so it should be an automatic for you if you have an iPhone.
"Killerest" feature
The “killerest” new feature (my opinion) is “Spotlight Search,” which provides the ability to search for things on the device. It was very painful to find things in old emails before – it was all manual and time-consuming. Now you can search for items, messages, songs, appointments, etc. and find them in a jiffy. The only limitation I’ve found is in searching email folders other than your inbox: if you haven’t opened the folder on your iPhone, or you haven’t opened it in a while, you won’t find recent emails in the search – you’ll have to open the folder so it will sync.
To make this slightly easier, each folder now has a Search field at the top of the folder so you can easily find things within that particular folder.
…And the rest(ish)
Some other improvements I’ve noticed in this version (not a complete list – there are even more):
- Support for stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) so you can use wireless headphones
- You can now sync Notes between Outlook and the iPhone (not wirelessly – only when you dock with iTunes)
- Better rendering of HTML in the browser
- Addition of a Voice Memo application (ideal for those “notes to self”, though I still prefer Jott)
- Better support for clicking on links, phone numbers, etc. in appointments if you’re syncing with Microsoft Exchange (though for some reason, you can’t click on any of these if they are in the subject of the appointment – only in the body, and only if they aren’t inside an attachment)
- This capability, along with cut & paste (which also won’t work in the subject line for some reason) will save a lot of idiotic instances of needing to write down meeting phone numbers and passcodes
- This also means you can put addresses inside the notes part of a meeting, click on the address, and it will automagically look up the address in Google Maps – again, don’t put it in the location field because it won’t be clickable there – put it in the notes
- The podcast controls, which I mentioned in my last post
- Lots of cosmetic/usability improvements in the recent calls, favorites, and other phone-related lists
- The ability to rent movies from your iPhone
- Better support for seamless password storage when using WiFi networks that require account names & passwords
- Support for saved passwords and autocomplete on web forms
- Improved VPN support
That’s my list off the top of my head, and I know I’m forgetting a few things. If you’re lucky enough to be able to get an iPhone 3Gs (the new hardware) you’ll get all of that plus a compass, faster processor, and the ability to film and edit movies on the phone (and you get a higher-res camera).
Hope that helps update you on the iPhone.
If you don’t care about iPhones: this isn’t an iPhone fanboy site but I will post something about them from time to time, particularly around big releases.