For the past week, the major talking point amongst iPhone owners has been the up-coming 3.0 firmware update, and what it will have and what it wont have. 
Now lets not forget that we have been waiting a while for this firmware update as it contains several important features that put in simple terms should have been available a while back now!
Apple hope with this update to fend off its competitors for the summer selling season such as Palm, Samsung, Nokia and LG all of which have upcoming phones that are expected to closely rival the might of the iPhone, how fitting then that this update is expected in the early parts of summer 2009, and the update should make a big difference to your iPhone. Underneath is a list of what the update will offer and what it wont:
Major Updates
- Copy/ Cut and Paste = A BIG update, as this is the one thing which all other SmartPhones have been able to do from day one (very frustrating). Users will be able to cut and paste to virtually any other part of their iPhone applications.
- MMS = This little schnippet has been a big part of the iPhone ‘Jailbreak” community as in the past the phone hasn’t been able to send MMS messages and it is possible to Jailbreak it to allow it to do so but from when this update is released you simply wont need to. Shame however that this is only available on the 3G version of the iPhone and not the 2G version. (below is a sample of what MMS messaging may look like)
- Stereo Bluetooth = You’ll now be able to connect your iPhone and iPod Touch to wireless headphones or speakers without the use of wires. The Bluetooth chip also gets a further boost.
- 3G Tethering = Apple has now made it possible to “Tether” your iPhone and your PC/ Mac and use it as a modem which in the US will probably cost, in the UK however O2 are keeping quiet on this front.
- Landscape Mode = If your finding it hard to text in portrait mode, Apple has now made it possible to use all “key” options in a landscape view….which will be very handy.
- Peer To Peer = Now you will be able to play head to head against other iPhone users just like the Nintendo DS which pushes the iPhone’s gaming element further.
Minor Updates
- Parental controls on the app store
- Notes are now able to be synced to your computer
- Form autofill in Safari
- HTML5 video and dev support for streaming purposes
- Manage/ send multiple images at once
- In-app payments
- Voice memo app
- New calender formats are supported
- Media player can now adjust bitrates according to the available bandwith
- YouTube account support
- Camera will now display the last photo you took in the bottom left corner
- Extended search (spotlight)
What you wont be getting
- Proper email searching
- The ability to actually record video
- Flash video
- Share music via pirating
That’s all for now folks but I’m pretty sure there will be a lot more news to come in the forceable future. However on a final note to this post….I just can’t help thinking that something crucial is still missing on the iPhone even with this new firmware update?
Via Unwiredview [image sources: Unwiredview and Fairsight]
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2 thoughts on “The iPhone 3.0 Update”
About time too. I’ve had enough of the crap texting features and would recoment jail breaking it the iPhone is very powerful but stupidly restricted by apple and the istore.
Hmmmm interesting….I don’t own an iPhone but have heard much of the same things about the iPhone from it’s users that are friends. Lets hope Apple bring out all these updates and possibly a few more!