On Monday I posted my predictions on what iPhone 3.0 would include, but how accurate was I? Here is my summary of the best of the 100 new features Apple have announced will be included in the third major release of iPhone software.
Cut and Paste
Hurray, iPhone 3.0 will include cut and paste! I can’t take too much credit for this prediction as every man and his dog predicted it’s inclusion. The good news is Apple have integrated it properly. You’ll be able to cut, copy and paste text across all applications. For example, you’ll be able to copy text from web pages and paste them into emails, or copy postcodes from emails into Maps. You’ll be able to copy images between applications too.
MMS
I got this one wrong. MMS will finally be included in 3.0 so you’ll shortly be able to send and receive photos, contacts and audio files with your downmarket, non-iPhone friends. Unfortunately this will not be available on the old non-3G iPhone.
Video Capture
I was correct, video capture is not included in iPhone 3.0 software. I think it will be tied to the launch of new hardware due to the required processing power, battery drain and camera functionality.
Tethering
No mention of mobile broadband ‘tethering’ so that’s 3 correct predictions so far…
Running Multiple Applications
The most significant part of this release are the big improvements to how the iPhone handles applications. Apple have introduced ‘Push notification’ and they’ve made 1000 new APIs available to third party app developers.
The opening up of push notification, currently only used by core apps like Mail and SMS, will enable any App to notify you of an event whilst you are using a different app. For instance, say you temporarily leave an Instant Message session on Facebook to check the football news via Safari. If someone then sends you an instant message via Facebook IM you can now be notified of that message via an alert. Rather disappointingly it seems that the integration goes no deeper so you’ll still have to spend time reloading apps and navigating back to the page you were on. The Apple Blog covers this in more detail.
The release of 1000 new APIs will open up a new world of possibilities of for App development. Developers will be able to include loads more functionality within their Apps. In-app email capability, the ability to voice chat whilst in a game and the inclusion of Maps are just a few examples. Developers will even be able to build Apps that interact with accessories. The Register and The Apple Blog give more examples of some of the possible applications.
Better Bluetooth
To my surprise, Bluetooth will be enhanced on the iPhone 3G, but not the older 2G version (so I was half right!). It seems that Apple integrated a better Bluetooth chip into the iPhone 3G launched last summer, but never got round to building the software to support it.
From the launch of 3.0 newer iPhones will support stereo bluetooth (cue the launch of a stereo bluetooth headset from Apple?). Perhaps the best opportunity this opens up is the potential to stream music to a car stereo that features a stereo bluetooth connection instead of resorting to the poor quality FM transmitter solution. I’ve used stereo bluetooth to play music in a car with other mobile phones and it was excellent. A seamless, uninterrupted connection and the stereo displays the track name too.
Also impressive is the addition of the ability to communicate with other iPhones over Bluetooth and play games together.
Other features
Apple are launching their comprehensive file searching application, Spotlight, on the iPhone. Flicking left from your Home page will take you to a tool that will allow you to search all your email, notes, applications, calendar and bookmarks for a specific search term you enter. It will even check the messages on your email server, not just those you have stored on the device.
Text forwarding will finally be added in iPhone 3.0, as will parental controls, auto-fill in Safari, support for Google calendar and anti-phishing security. You’ll also be able to write emails and texts in landscape, as predicted right here.
In summary
I think I can give myself a B+ for calling a fair amount of the features correctly. All in all iPhone O/S 3.0 seems to iron out a lot of the remaining niggles in usability that bug many iPhone users, it adds much greater bluetooth connectivity that better matches the functionality of other mobile phones but the most exciting changes will be felt over time as the new APIs and push notification inspire thousands of new and updated iPhone Apps that offer a much deeper and more exciting experience.
I still expect new iPhone hardware to be announced in the summer – an iPhone Nano with the same spec as the current iPhone 3G in a smaller package and a new, improved main iPhone that has more processing power, a better camera, video capture, better battery life, 32GB of memory and perhaps an OLED display.
iPhone software 3.0 will launch this summer for free on the iPhone and for roughly £10 on the iPod Touch.
Related posts:
