Tuesday, March 17, 2009

iPhone 3.0. Hit or Miss?

I've just been following the feed on The iPhone Blog from the event where Apple are announcing what's in version 3.0 of the iPhone OS, expected to ship this summer.

My previous post on this had a number of "wishes" I was hoping for. there is a lot to take in, so let's have an initial look at what I think is there (from my wish list).

  • Better PIM, especially calendar integration: NO Doesn't look like it (sniff). Looks like Apple are keeping the calendar database pretty locked down, unless I've missed anything vital.
  • Screen to rotate to landscape mode in email. YES and apparently in all "key" apps too - including SMS. Nice.
  • Ability to forward a text message: YES - and about time too. Whoever thought it wasn't needed is an idiot
  • File transfer using bluetooth. NOT SURE - BT gets a mention - support for ADP2 stero headsets, and apparently some ability to share/beam some info, lossibly vcards, but genuine file transfer looks a bit dodgy. I'll double check though.
  • MMS (multi-media messaging). YES don't use it much, but every other phone in the world today supports it, so at leat the iPhone is catching up
  • Notifications. NOT SURE didn't see any obvious reference tothis - have to look back through feed (tea time half way through!)
  • Cut & Paste YES - probably THE most wanted feature. Finally.
So certainly there's some great stuff there, although frankly, as previously mentioned, a lot of this stuff is what pretty much every other current phone can do anyway, so Apple are really just making up the ground here.

There's a pile of other stuff, much of it beyond my understanding, and reaction on TiPB seems pretty positive so far.

When will we be able to get it? Summer. Err, that means any time between about May and October, although if Apple stick to form it'll be July(ish).

Cost? Free - apparently.

Roll on summer!

Check out The iPhone Blog for a fuller, and more explicit explanation of what's in 3.0

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