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iPhone OS 3.0 Quick Review

So I’ve been playing around with the iPhone OS 3.0 (since I have a developer account, I really should come up with some awesome software and make money…). Now that the software is officially released and reviews are going up from all over the web, here is my 2c on the improvements…

General Feel

The feel of the OS hasn’t changed too dramatically. The new search tool works just like you might expect it to. You can now redeem codes from the App Store right on your phone instead of through your PC (though the developer test of AIM push didn’t work properly OTA or WiFi, and my iTunes didn’t want to sync it over without erasing all my programs and settings and copying them back over from the PC – or so it said).

Bluetooth

I tried to use the A2DP (stereo bluetooth) in my car (MS Automotive 5.5/Ford Sync 1.3) and I’ve noticed the phone sometimes gets confused whether it wants to be connected via A2DP or the USB dock connector. Sometimes I’ll plug it in the USB connector and it takes longer than OS 2.x to be recognized, and occasionally have to use the iPod “Accessory Connected” screen to tell it to use the USB connection instead of BT.

The reason I don’t want to use A2DP is that the USB connection offers me more – song metadata (name/artist) and being able to choose song, artist, playlist, etc to play, while I cant even get the next/previous track functions to work properly on the iPhone and my Ford Sync system – I believe the iPhone OS 3.0 is missing whats called AVRCP or audio/video remote control profile. Even if OS 3.0 had AVRCP, the Ford Sync system only seems to support the basic AVRCP protocol, since it only allows next/previous and play/pause controls. AVRCP 1.4 supports search capabilities similar to whats available over USB.

Also, the 3.0 OS does not appear to support Bluetooth text messaging, as the Ford Sync system supports reading back text messages (acronyms included).

Cut, Copy, Paste

There isn’t really much to talk about here, it works pretty well. In the beginning I had to train myself not to give the phone spurious inputs to trigger the C/C/P menus. But after I got over that hurdle it was fine. I even had some bright idea moments when I realized that I could use it instead of having to try and remember some long string (iPhone app redemption codes, UPS and FedEx tracking numbers, etc).

Landscape Apps

The landscape layout works great in Mail. It is slimmed down the non-message parts of the screen so more mail appears. I can see mobile mail enthusiasts picking this mode more than the standard portrait mode.

Other apps like Stocks support landscape mode, however Maps doesn’t, which is kind of disappointing.

Surfin’ Safari

Safari is pretty good. I tried some data and javascript intensive sites like digg (non-mobile) and ars technica. Both performed really well. Ars performed pretty well before but digg didn’t. This time both loaded and performed great, but it seemed with digg that it took a little while longer to render the page. Likely this is where the iPhone 3G S CPU speed up will help out. Other bits like Autofill were useful for Ars. In the week I used it I didn’t notice any crashes or issues.

MMS & Tethering

The delay in supporting MMS is odd. I don’t know why AT&T would have problems supporting it sooner, at first I had through they were planning on charging extra, but they recently clarified that. I completely understand charging the user an extra $15-30/mo for tethering via the iPhone or even $2.99/day for those who need it for a few days on vacation ($2.99 is still way cheaper than $15/day at a hotel for WiFi).

Thats pretty much it as far as the new OS goes. There are of course other features in the API that new software in the App Store will bring. Another round of innovation from Apple.

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Posted in Apple, iphone.

By Anthony
June 17, 2009

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