iPhone 3.0 finally features true phone functionality | News | Techie.com.ph
5:35 PM | Friday | 30 July 2010

In what is probably a response to the iPhone's many criticisms (and a response to the all-conquering Palm Pre), Apple has announced the release of iPhone 3.0: the developer lovin', copy-and-pastin' version of the phone OS everyone loves to hate.

Let's go straight to the point -- below are some of the iPhone 3.0's hundreds of new features:

• Copy and Paste - To select text or photos, simply double tap. Pinch to adjust the selection. It works across other applications, too. Shake the phone to undo pasting
• Landscape Keyboard - Now also works for mail, notes, messaging
• MMS - Send and receive multimedia files (finally!)
• Voice Memos - Lets you record, edit, and send audio recordings
• Calendar - Supports CalDAV for shared calendars and for subscriptions
• Stocks - Displays news stories and stock details for you to see how much money you've lost in real time
• Search - Look for everything in your Mailboxes, Calendar, iPod song list, and Notes using Spotlight
• Wi-Fi Auto Log in
• Shake to Shuffle
• Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
• Anti Phishing
• Parental Controls
• Language Support - More languages supported
• YouTube - log in to you tube and subscribe

All of these dramatically change the phone's usability and make it downright more useful. Had these been included when the first iPhone came out, the game could've been over long ago.

But the iPhone 3.0 OS features more than just new features. With it, comes a new SDK [System Developer's Kit] that allows programmers to come up with new capabilities along with 3.0's newfound powers.

A few developers have already presented how the enhancements with the SDK have allowed them to improve their respective products:

• Meebo - Utilizes the new Push Notification feature to send and receive messages. It doesn't run in the background and thus won't drain battery life or compromise processing power.
• EA - In SIMS 3, characters can play tunes from the iPod library.
• ESPN - Sports updates pop up in real time to the tune of ESPN's famous theme music. You can then access video clips depending on which connection is best for you.
• Johnson & Johnson - A program called Lifescan allows for real time monitoring of patient's status through Bluetooth or the 30-pin cable.
• Ngmoco - Games such as Touchpets and LiveFire take advantage of the iPhone's connectivity to update other users of game statuses. For LiveFire, you can contact fellow gamers while playing the game.
• Smule - Added a duet mode so users can play along with friends.

iPhone 3.0 will first be available as a developer Beta version and is slated to come out as a consumer version in June 2009.