Because I’m just that impatient

Yes, it’s sad that my first proper blog entry in ages is about something as geeky as the iPhone operating system, but a proper update will be on its way…

Ever since the announcement of OS 3.0 in March, I’ve been pining after it for it’s much touted and highly anticipated features.  Much like last year’s release of OS 2.0, this for many iPhone users and fans is like the second coming (or should that be third?).  Also much like last year, some kind developer soul out there graciously uploaded the “Gold Master” release on to the torrent networks.  This is pretty much the final release from Apple and is used for final compatibility checks with developers for the App Store, which means Apple will not be changing any back-end architecture from now until next Wednesday, maybe just additional polish.

So, after a tense 30 minutes of status bar watching, OS 3.0 was finally on my precious.

On initial inspection, most would miss that anything had changed at all from looking at the home screen, bar the addition of a voice memo app (wonderful recording and playback quality), and a little magnifying glass alongside the page indicators.

The little magnifying glass is actually the Spotlight symbol, a system-wide search capable of rooting through music, emails, contacts, and so on.  Results are presented swiftly, with emails taking ever so slightly longer to sift through.  Sadly, it’s not as thorough as OSX’s Spotlight and it doesn’t appear to search within emails, merely the subject, to, and from fields.  Everything else receives content searching, though.

Landscape mode is now available as a text entry option for all default iPhone apps, and will be available to all third party apps so long as the APIs are followed.  Ironically, a number of third party apps have had this feature for ages but it is sooo nice to be able to tap out an email on a larger keyboard.

Copy and paste has finally made its appearance and so far, works pretty well.  OS 3.0 is context sensitive and depending on what you intend to do with the copied data determines how many options you have available to you.  Take for instance if you wanted to send a photo or two, you would be presented with the option to send via email or MMS.  As soon as this goes above two photos, email becomes the only option, and above 7 photos, email is no longer an option.  Copying text and numbers is superb though, and behaves exactly as expected.

MMS is also finally with us, and works nicely.  There’s no difference between SMS and MMS, and both are presented in the same user conversations.  Sending one is as simple as sending an SMS, and isn’t at all convoluted like on other phones.  This is, sadly, only available on the 3G and 3G S, and as I said several month ago, smacks of bullshit.  MMS is not dependent on a 3G signal and was around during the GPRS days, around 9 years ago.  Guess Apple has to get their monies somehow from upgraders.

Alot of the other new features are buried away within the OS.  Call list management is now more in-depth, behaving much like how Nokia logs calls.  Contacts now have more fields available, going as far to give “iPhone” its own category amongst “home”, “work”, and “mobile”.  Apple has moved some settings about, too, making some easier to get to and some now harder.  Buried deep within this section is an option to switch on “Find my iPhone”, using cell tower triangulation and GPS to locate your lost/stolen iPhone if you’re a MobileMe subscriber.  The service is fast and very precise, though more useful if you suspect you’ve lost your phone in a location you can easily retrieve your phone from, unless you’re more the vigilante type, tracking down the thief with your iPhone.  For those who aren’t as brave but value their data more, there is a remote data wipe so long as the phone is within reach of a network of some sort.

The rest of the OS update is down to performance gains, with all areas of the system I’ve played with operating faster than before.  The GPS in Maps as I said before is blisteringly fast now.  There is less hanging, and the UI feels smoother and slicker.  Sadly, the same can’t be said about all third party apps.  Some have visual glitches, and the odd few are so fundamentally broken that the developers may have to go back to the drawing board (Night Camera, I’m looking at you).

On the whole, it is a superb update and some will argue that this should have been iPhone OS 1.0 or 2.0.  It brings many refinements to the table bringing it in line with less elegant competitors’ offerings.  The big question now is, where does Apple take its OS for the next big update?