Index
What else is new?
The iPhone 3G S includes support for Nike + iPod, which integrates your iPod with a sensor that fits inside Nike running shoes. You use it as a pedometer to track your distance travelled and your pace. When you turn on the app in the settings menu, an icon will appear on the Home screen. The headphones included with the iPhone 3G S also show changes. You'll find controls for using the Voice Control feature, adjusting the volume, answering calls and controlling music and video playback.
iPhone OS 3.0
The iPhone 3G S will support the new iPhone OS 3.0 update from day one. The OS 3.0 is a significant update that promises 100 new features, including such long-awaited gems as multimedia messaging, stereo Bluetooth, a voice recorder, and cut, copy and paste. Apple has yet to release a fully detailed list — and we've barely scratched the surface in our testing — but we'll continue to report improvements as we find them. First announced in March 2009, it was released 17 June 2009, for the iPhone Classic and the iPhone 3G.
This is what MMS looked like in the beta version of iPhone OS 3.0. (Credit: CBSi)
Multimedia messaging
We've ranted endlessly about why it took so long for Apple to achieve multimedia messaging (MMS), so we're glad that it's finally on its way. Besides photos, you'll also be able to send videos, audio files and map locations. At long last, the iPhone can do something that almost every other mobile phone can do, and has done for ages.
The messaging process was intuitive. When using the text-messaging app, a small camera icon appeared next to the writing area. After tapping it, we had the choice to take a new photo or send an existing shot. If we decided to shoot a new photo, we had the option of retaking it if we wished. Alternatively, we could initiate a picture message from the photo gallery. In either case, the photo appears in the typing area of the message application, and you can delete it if you change your mind.
Cut, copy and paste is easy to use. (Credit: CBSi)
Cut, copy and paste
The cut, copy and paste feature is long overdue. The interface is simple and easy to use, and it works across all applications, including notes, emails, messages and text on web pages. Developers will even get access to it in applications.
To get started, just double-tap a selection of text and the cut, copy and paste commands will appear. You then can change the highlighted area by dragging the blue grab points around the page. Once you get to your pasting area, just tap the screen again and select the paste button. If you make a mistake and paste it in the incorrect place, you can shake the iPhone to undo your command. When in Notes and email, you also can highlight with a long press (aka holding your finger down). You'll see two options: Select and Select All. The former command highlights just the word that you're touching, while the latter highlights the entire block of text.
Using the feature in the Safari browser takes some acclimation, but even then we needed only a few minutes to get the hang of the process. Because the double-tap motion is also used to zoom in on a web page, you must use a long press to select text that you want to copy or cut. You then can drag the blue points as normal. Depending on how closely you're zoomed in, you can highlight just one word or an entire block of text.
The landscape keyboard is a welcome addition. (Credit: CBSi)
Landscape keyboard
Formerly — and inexplicably — available only in the Safari browser, the landscape keyboard now works in email, text messaging and notes. After haranguing Apple over the past two years to get it, we have to admit that it took a second to get accustomed to it. Though the landscape keyboard is much wider, with larger buttons, it's also a lot shorter. It did take us a couple of days to get the hang of it. Don't think that we're complaining, though, as it's quite the opposite. We love being able to use two hands, but we had grown accustomed to the one-finger tap dance on the vertical keyboard.
You can also now view your email inbox, contacts and text messages in landscape mode. The calendar remains in a portrait orientation, but the changes we received are welcome.
The Spotlight feature lets you search a variety of files on your iPhone 3G S. (Credit: CBSi)
Spotlight
Until now, it's been rather painful to sift through the data to find email or calendar entries on the iPhone. Luckily, iPhone OS 3.0 adds a Spotlight feature that makes the search process vastly easier. Similar to many of the OS 3.0 additions, it took way too long to get here, but we have few complaints about the final product. To get to the Spotlight feature, swipe your finger to the right from the first menu page. You'll then see a keyboard with a typing field above it (this keyboard only works in portrait mode). As you type in a search term, the results appear below the search bar, with results grouped together by category for easy navigation. You can search calendar entries, music, notes, apps, contacts and email, and you can search within an individual email inbox. For IMAP4 and Exchange accounts, you'll also be able to search messages saved only on the server.
Text messaging
Deleting and forwarding individual messages in a texting thread works just like the email app. When you select the edit button, small dots appear next to each message. Hit the dots for your desired messages before pressing the delete or forward options. Thanks, Apple, but this should have been on the first iPhone.
Stereo Bluetooth
We were very glad to see a stereo Bluetooth profile arrive with iPhone OS 3.0. We tested it with the LG HBS-250 stereo Bluetooth headset. The pairing process was easy and incident-free. In the music player, a small Bluetooth icon appears next to the player controls. Press it to route audio to the headset; you then can toggle back and forth between the speaker and the headset. Speaking of Bluetooth, the update also adds Bluetooth peer-to-peer networking for gaming.
Turn-by-turn directions
iPhone OS 3.0 brings support for turn-by-turn directions, making the iPhone a fully functional GPS device. Directional services won't come from Apple, but will instead come from third-party apps. TomTom will be the first company to offer an app; a TomTom executive demonstrated it at WWDC 2009.
From what we could tell from the brief demo, TomTom's service looks promising. The interface was attractive and the audible directions were clear. TomTom will also offer a car kit that will secure your iPhone to your windshield or dashboard while charging it at the same time. That's good news for a device that sucks up juice quickly.
We're concerned with how much the app will cost. TomTom will offer a "range" of US and international maps, but that's as much as we know. GPS maps are not cheap, so we'll be interested to see how TomTom will package and price the content to make it affordable for consumers and profitable for TomTom.
What's more, we're curious how much memory the maps will consume and how the app will integrate with the iPhone's other features. From what we understand, we'll be able to make hands-free calls and play music on our car's radio while getting directions. Unlike the Palm Pre, however, the iPhone doesn't multitask (we have more to say on that below). If the GPS feature has to suspend because you get a call — just as the iPod player suspends when you take a call — then things could get tricky. We suspect, though, that Apple and TomTom have this covered.
iTunes Store
With the software update, your iPhone's iTunes Store experience will change a bit. Now you'll be able to download TV shows and audiobooks, and access iTunes U. You'll also be able to redeem iTunes gift cards on the phone in the iTunes App store. Previously, you could only redeem in the iTunes music store.
Also new is the capability to make purchases while inside apps. For example, you can renew a magazine subscription or buy additional levels of a game. This is a small win, at least for us. Sure, it's nice that you won't have to close the application and return to the iTunes Store, but this is almost one of those "problems I didn't know I had". Just remember to keep a limit on your impulse buying.
Apple promises that free apps will always be free, to avoid a bait-and-switch scenario. While that's great for consumers in that you'll never have to shell out money for an update, even now we see two versions of many apps cluttering the App store. The free app get you hooked, much like a demo version of a game, while the paid app offers the whole experience. As we see it, that's not much better than offering an app for free, but then charging later for an update.
Find My iPhone
If you're prone to losing your iPhone 3G S, OS 3.0 will give you some peace of mind. If your handset goes missing, you can use a computer to find its position on a map. You can then send it a message that instructs anyone who finds your phone to call you. It plays a tone to get a passer-by's attention, and it even plays the tone when the sound is off. Presumably, however, it won't play the tone when the phone is off.
It sounds like a great service, but there are a couple of caveats. Find My iPhone is only available to MobileMe users. Also, you'll need someone on the other end who is responsible enough to notify you that he or she has found your phone. Luckily, if that doesn't hold true, you can use a remote wipe option to swipe your iPhone clean of data. This is the first time remote wipe is available to consumers outside of an enterprise setting. We'll update this review soon with an evaluation of Find My iPhone.
Voice recorder
Did we mention that iPhone OS 3.0 adds features that should have been on the first-generation device? Oh, that's right, we did. But, in any case, the new voice-recording app is another example of something being better late than ever. It has its own icon on the Home screen, and its interface is clean and easy to use. Tap the record button to start and tap it again to end; you can continue to record while you're using other applications, like the web browser. When finished, you can email your voice clips to a friend, or you can trim them in the same fashion as you would videos.
Stocks
You'll now see news headlines for the company tickers saved in your Stocks application. That would be a nice touch if we used the Stocks app more often. You'll also be able to see a chart in landscape mode, and you'll be able to get a stock price at any point on a chart.
Other additions
The remaining additions range from useful to trivial. Thanks to iPhone OS 3.0, you'll also get push notifications, expanded parental controls, a shake-to-shuffle feature for the iPod player, the capability to forward meeting invites and contacts, Notes syncing for Macs and PCs, autofill for web fields and Wi-Fi auto-log-ins, the option to change the default destination for the home button, and additional wallpaper. Finally, if you tap and hold on a web link in the Safari browser, a new menu will appear with choices to open the link, open it in another page, save an image or copy the link.
What we're still waiting for
Fortunately, this list is getting shorter with each incarnation of the iPhone. Yet, the iPhone 3G S still lacks some important features. To begin with, it does not offer multitasking. We've been hung up on this for a while, but after seeing the Pre handle multitasking so elegantly, we think Apple can at least compete. And keep in mind that multitasking is hardly limited to Palm's showpiece. It is frustrating that on a phone that can do so many things well, we have to close an application and go back to the menu in order to open another one. But more than that, it's becoming unacceptable.
As mentioned earlier, you can't change the look and feel of the iPhone's interface. Though we like not having to root through multiple menu layers to access features, we'd still enjoy more customisation. Similarly, Apple continues to lock down the iPhone's file structure. There's no file manager feature, and USB mass storage and transfer remain largely elusive. While you can access your iPhone's camera folder via a USB cable, you can only transfer photos and videos from the iPhone 3G S to your computer. To transfer photos, videos and other media files to your iPhone, you must rely on iTunes. And even then, iTunes restricts what kinds of files you can move and it tells you where to store them on the phone. A wide variety of mobile phones, from simple candy bar handsets to high-end smartphones, offer USB mass storage. We think Apple should do the same.
Flash support for the Safari browser is also a must. Apple has skirted this issue, so there may be hope in the future. But in the meantime, we still expect Flash Lite to get a true web experience. Apple has long boasted that the iPhone puts "the internet in your pocket", but without Flash, it's not quite there.
We doubt we'll ever get the last few items on our list. But as long as we're complaining, we'd love to see an FM radio, a "mark as read" option in the email app, an FM transmitter, and a user-replaceable battery. We still wonder what you're supposed to use as a mobile phone when you send in your iPhone for a replacement battery. And don't forget: you'll have to pay for that service.
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