Other goodies in iPhone 3.0
Maps and Safari boast improvements under the hood that make a big improvement to page rendering times - Maps in particular is dramatically faster - and the browser now warns you of fraudulent sites. It also gets autofill, so it can populate forms with data from your Address Book entry, and you can use Settings > General > Restrictions to stop the kids going online.
FASTER RENDERING: Maps goes like lightning
If you have a MobileMe account you'll also be able to remotely wipe your phone if it gets nicked, and Calendar now supports Exchange ActiveSync and the CalDAV calendar standard.
iTunes now enables you to download audiobooks, movies and iTunes U content directly to your phone, and you can also redeem gift cards without rushing home to your PC.
ITUNES: You can now redeem gift cards from your phone
The new Voice Memos application enables you to record - yes! - voice memos. We're not sure why it doesn't have the voice control features of the iPhone 3G S, however: we can't think of any technical reason why it couldn't work on an iPhone 3G.
VOICE MEMOS: 3.0 delivers voice recording, but not voice control features available to iPhone 3G S users
Last and probably least, you can shake your iPhone to undo the most recent action or to change the currently playing song. It's a gimmick rather than a useful feature - hitting delete a few times is much faster and more reliable - and we can only assume Apple's stuck it into 3.0 to annoy joggers.
More to come
We suspect that the most interesting things about 3.0 won't appear until third-party developers start exploring them.
Bluetooth support should enable local multiplayer games, push notification will make it easier for applications to let you know important information, device support may herald a new wave of intelligent accessories, and in-app purchasing will enable game developers and media firms to offer extra content such as downloadable game levels or premium subscriptions.
Who knows, we might even see third-party keyboards.
So is 3.0 enough to convince you not to buy a 3G S? We think so - unless, that is, you really want to record video, have a digital compass or get significantly longer battery life.
Until third party developers really start to take advantage of the new APIs it's evolution rather than revolution, but it does keep your phone current without forcing you to shell out any more cash.
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Your comments (10) Click to add a new comment
gavin
June 18th
10. I cannot understand why so many people are so negative, I have had shed loads of phones over the last 12 years, and this is the only one that actually gets updated to any form of level to introduce new features.
I really think people need to keep this in perspective.
On a hardware note, would you really be happy if the 3Gs was so different that your current 3G looks like the "old model"? I think this is a blessing, I get to keep my 3G without looking like I have old hat technology.
I have a MacPro and MacBook Pro, and owned both for about 5 or 6 months before significant upgrades, I was pretty ********** in the scheme of things, the Pro even had a whole new design. Think about it folks.
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kasino72
June 18th
9. John, O2's argument with tethering is that people use mobile broadband with computers differently than they do with phones: phones tend to be short, fast bursts of data, computers tend to be sustained, higher bandwidth. I'm not saying that's necessarily fair, but that's the argument. They do the same with other tetherable smartphones.
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johnhind
June 18th
8. There are a number of nice improvements, but there are still some stupid and annoying omissions:
1. The landscape extensions are welcome but much too little much too late. It is NOT as billed available for all keyboard usage - for example the brand new spotlight search is portrait only. Landscape mode should work always - this would enable landscape mode desk stands for example. Doing it for the home screens would have been trivial effort. They should force all applications to landscape if necessary by shrinking at the OS level which would soon encourage third party developers to support it properly!
2. It still seems to be impossible to delete content from iPod app except by deleting on the PC and synchronising (sorry if I have missed this feature, but if it is there it is poorly interfaced). This is crazy because there is lots of content you want to consume once and then delete (films and podcasts for example). Ludicrously you can now download a lot of this stuff without a PC, but you need one to delete them after use!
3. Tethering is a great feature, but, predictably, it has been screwed up by O2. It is not available at all on Pay-and-go and an expensive extra charge on Monthly. What business of O2 is it what you use the data on when they are already charging you with a MB cap? Also it would have been more ground-breaking (and surely possible?) to allow the iPhone to act as a WiFi access point rather than requiring a wired connection or Bluetooth?
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beefstirfry
June 18th
7. I like the airplane mode animation, and the iPod scrubbing speed that can be adjusted (ie, try skipping through a music track).
Last week I was convinced I was going to get the 3GS, now I have 3G v3.0, I'm thinking to just stick with this for a while as I'm happy with what it does.
@201010 - If you have the money and high level authorisation, go for the 3GS. Your geek status will go through the roof.
@Plumtree1303 - agree that more space is needed. Or maybe I just need to compress my music down further. Once Tom Tom is released and if they make the maps available for download, then I'll be definetely struggling for space. Actually, thinking about, will TomTom be out on just the 3GS or 3G as well?
@mwits - you got issues, get a new handset
@babaksondi - you obviously don't appreciate how Apple work and don't seem to even know what features are on which phone, or how to use them.
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kasino72
June 18th
6. Babaksondi, who is your operator? On O2, MMS should be available right now, tethering too if you're willing to pay extra. Push won't be available until your third party apps support it, and I'd expect that to start happening pretty quickly now that 3.0 is out.
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babaksondi
June 18th
5. I am extreemly disappointed with the new 3.0 upgrade. The only good thing about it is the copy and paste feature. Other that that, there is nothing else good about it. All the features they talked about is missing, such as: tethering, push notification or MMS. This whole thing is a big joke. The new iphone (3GS) is even a bigger joke. So what! It just has a video camera. I did not buy the iphone for its picture taking ability. I bought it for its functionality and features. I am seriously disappointed with Apple. This is a big insult to us as consumers.
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