Just announced this morning, iPhone OS 3.0 is the talk of the town. Though Apple’s SDK distribution servers had a rough time handling the initial rush this morning, things have since stabilized and developers are starting to flash their handsets to the first beta copies of the new software. In turn, the first screenshots and early impressions have started to trickle in to our inbox.
Note: This software is still in a beta state. It’s expected to be broken. They have months to fix it.
Update: We’ve also found a few new features lurking around in the Podcast player.
What we’ve heard so far:
- There’s a reason us common folk won’t see it hit our handsets till Summer. It’s slow, and it’s buggy – but remember, it’s beta.
- There’s a “Find my iPhone” option under MobileMe – We don’t recall ever seeing this before, and it wasn’t mentioned by Apple today. We’re not 100% sure what it is. Skyhook-powered lost/stolen iPhone locator, perhaps?
- Voice Recorder stays open behind the scenes if you close it while recording.
Getting a screenshot of it was tough for some reason, butUpdate: Got a screenshot of it – see the last one in the gallery below. It looks just like when you close the phone app while you’re on a call, with a small bar running along the top of the screen. No sign yet if it will allow you to record calls, as the app crashes if you try. - Copy and paste works well already. Shaking the iPhone brings up the undo button, and it does this fancy little animation on its way in as if it had momentum from the shake. It’s a small touch, but we like it.
- Picture messages can currently be created, but don’t seem to send properly in this beta build
- Update: You can now set the home button to jump directly to the camera or search page when double-tapped.
Stuff is still a bit shaky overall, but Apple has plenty of time to fix these issues up before it goes live for everyone. We’ll update you if any more little gems turn up.
[PSGallery=1duleswby3]
And the iPhone becomes even more enticing…but still, they’re $800-$900 AUD down here in Australia (I’d prefer not to be on a $1200-$1500 contract) and I’d always be worried about dropping it or losing it. At least with my $70 brick phone it can handle being dropped and I don’t worry about it.
Australia has phones? Wow!
Funny guy Michael…
Why no video.. Is it they try to impose their philosophy on us users?? When we will claim our liberty from corporate czars like Jobs??
yeah, we just don’t call d***heads like yourself, so you are forgiven for your ignorance…
and you need to get a grip and recognize a joke
LOL
what is it with aussies and not being able to take a joke? bloody aussies… take a leaf out of the book of us kiwis and relax a bit and breathe in the fresh air and admire the scenery. what little there is apart from dead flat.
…. It will fail miserably. I was not consulted about this and I predict that very few, very few people in India will use it. There. I have spoken from my Throne in Delhi.
Anjali Sen
From India
If Apple were unable to sell one more phone, the iPhone would still go down as a monumental success… I don’t know what they’re putting in the crack out in India… but it sure is working. Keep up the good work.
I’m in AU right now, and they definitely don’t have phones… they use cans with strings between them! They do have wi-fi, but it cost $20/hr… truly like going back to the 90’s in the US.
ha ha ha… I remember being in the US in 2001 and there were advertising for SMS like it was the greatest thing ever. I had a nokia 8210 back then, I had it for a few years and had been using sms for years… it was the latest thing in the US… Our NextG UMTS phone nextwork over here is one of the fastest in the world. I can get up to 4mbps download through the cell towers over here… on my iPhone… At&T arent even close over there. So maybe check your facts before you bag out Australia. Joke or no Joke!!
Actually as far as im concerned we have better phones than the us.
Yeap! i hear Australia is at least 5 years ahead of us. Heard about the speed of the network… actually it made me kinda jealous lol
I dropped mine alot and it was absolutely fine until the corner of a table connected with the center of the screen (8 months worth of dropping isn’t too bad).
for the firs time since it came out I’m actually excited about this release
So Grant, do you do much texting? It just seems that the touch keyboard is almost impossible to learn to the extent where you can text efficiently. Am I wrong?
awkward at first, but becomes effortless and faster than other keypads. Drop mine all the time and barely a scratch.
Ok so again there is no difference in an Apple iPhone and a 40000 years old stone ..!
No MMS! .. For God Sake .. I don’t call it a 3rd generation phone .. rather its 0.5generation phone .. GROSS! .. Apple you let us all down :(
Who said there is no MMS? you can send images in your messages… dont u see the camera icon?
uh, but the new version does have MMS….
TaaLz that is pretty harsh. What’s up?
Name something you have ever actually liked that was released from Apple.
You sound like the cynic to be ignored because you speak from emotion not data.
tAAlz… you are an idiot who obviously doesn’t take the time to read a story before you bash it. Not only is there MMS in 3.0, but the ability to send location pins, which in its self makes it far superior to anything you ever imagined was a “good” phone. Stop lying to yourself buddy… you let yourself down.
I love the whole coolness and attraction of the iphone, but I am still not prepared to purchase one, due to the fact that in the UK it is only available to use on the 02 Mobile Network.
(All of 02’s Mobile Tariffs suck!)
Of course I understand that Apple is well rewarded in dealing exclusively with 02 in the UK.
But isn’t it about time Apple stopped this ‘unfair practise’ and made the iPhone Sim Free and readily available for all iPhone lovers.
Imagine the Global Sales of the iPhone plus purchases from its complentary App Store, if the next version of the iPhone was Sim Free.
Or even better, available to upgrade on all UK Networks, with each Network offering their own special Price Plans and Bundles to sign up to their Network.
If the iPod and the iPod Touch are universal, then I think that it is about time the iPhone becomes universal too.
Come on Apple. The iPhone 3 should become the iPhone Free.
Moe, my iPhone is on Three ;) There are ways to not use O2. I got a PAYG iphone and then sorted my own sim into it. Initially via a bit of kit, but now via a nice bit of software that I shall not name here. :)
So I have a super cheap and quick 3G contract with three that works better than o2.
does the application store work? what about voicemail?
When the first iPhone launched, Steve Jobs said they were going to things the right way. By that, he meant pairing the iPod and a mobile phone together and doing it in a very Apple way – thus, creating the iPhone.
Now, it feels, as if this could be the iPhone done the right way. The first version was what a mobile phone should be and this latest version is what the iPhone should be.
I followed the announcement and I really think Apple raised the bar again. Palm, Google, Microsoft, & RIM have even more catching up to do. Let’s hope that the push lives up to the promise and that all these great features work with “old” hardware when the new OS comes out.
Joe Greenstein was here.
finally we’ll have the long-anticipated cut & paste. How about the MMS and video features? Plus the zoom in/out for camera?
they were totally silent on hardware upgrades today. we’ll have to wait until the launch hype event in June i guess to hear about that. bet you there will be a better camera and a faster processor.
MMS feature is in. :)
Well put Christopher – I couldn’t agree more.
Apple really have stepped up to the plate with this and are showing what shrewd product managers they are.
They’ve given a lot of new features with this, yet are holding out a few to keep us wanting more.
Nokia, RIM, Palm et al need to take note and come up with a real alternative or risk getting marginalised to emerging and niche markets in the near future….
one of the cool features I have found while playing around with my beta version..
When a call comes in from a number that is not in your address book it’ll FINALLY show what city is coming from!
Oh and you can finally turn of multiple reminders for ignored text messages.. such an annoying feature finally being able to be controlled!
Apple have done a great job, just when the hype for the current iPhone starts to loose pace and other manufacturers begin to look just that little bit attractive (eg, Blackberry Curve 8900), and while most UK tech magazines are just about placing the iPhone second to any one of these manufacturers, Apple introduce a new OS that just takes it to top spot, no new hardware needed, just an upgrade to the OS. I have never looked forward to an OS upgrade as much as I have for the iPhone. Job well done for Jobs.
I’m still hopeful that the handset upgrade comes with a taser built in as standard. Not only are you carrying the latest tech gadget but you are safe :)
Sorry one question pls.Is it possible to manage the cal list , like deleting just some calls , not every call in the list? thx
Thank you for all this very cool information!
All are very cool features, but I’m still praying for video abilites on updates to come.
However, I am also wondering when my old non-3G iPhone will be unable to handle these updates. Seems like it’s getting slower and slower. Battery life seems to be getting shorter and shorter too.
i guess the iphone doesnt have hardware enough for this features (the video camera and zoom in/out… ).. just look at the first G of the iphone, cant have MMS!
I hope that in June, the new iphone will have this feature and I cant wait to see what is gonna be like… and of course, having the new 3.0!
Nice post! Check out my site too at http://macmaniapodcast.com.
Its not that the 2g cant have mms apple just wont release it because they want you to upgrade to the latest version.
Are they also going to make me pay for that update? Because apple is getting bitchy at that lately.