The iPhone Is Finally A Smartphone

March 17, 2009 Technology

It’s taken Apple a couple of years but they have finally quelled iPhone owner’s desires; introducing iPhone OS 3.0. The good boys at Cupertino announced this morning over 100 new features coming to an iPhone and iPod touch near you. Among the long list of updates are the much fussed about features that have been missing from this device touting the “smartphone” tag: MMS, Copy & Paste, Stereo A2DP Bluetooth, and a system-wide search tool. There is still no support for running background applications but there is a very nice push-notification system that will alert you about updates on apps even if they’re not running. 

Check out an incomprehensive list of updates after the jump

App and developer functionality 

• Peer-to-peer connectivity over Bluetooth for gaming and other info-swapping.
• Paid apps will have the potential to be subscription fee-based, and can include optional paid content that can be bought from right inside the app.
• Developers can now build apps that call out to Google Maps, and can also finally bring Apple-blessed turn-by-turn to the phone.
• Devs can also connect with hardware accessories over in their apps now, such as a blood pressure monitor — or perhaps a keyboard? Connectivity works through the dock connector or over Bluetooth.
• Long-promised push functionality will at last be included, but apps won’t run in the background.
• Developers can add streaming video and audio to their apps, along with in-game voice use.

General functionality

• Cut, copy and paste. At last! You can shake the phone to undo and redo the action, and it works with both text and photos, allowing Mail to send multiple photos at a time.
• MMS, along with forward and delete for multiple messages. 
• A2DP stereo Bluetooth.
• Unlocked Bluetooth functionality on 2G iPod touch. 
• Spotlight has been added to a new home screen page to the left of existing pages, allowing for universal search on the phone. 
• Tethering is built into 3.0, and Apple will work with carriers on that — who will have the last say on its implementation, most likely.
• App Store will be available in 77 countries.
• Parental controls for TV shows, movies and App Store apps.
• Auto-login for WiFi hotspots.

Apple apps

• A new app called Voice Memos which lets you record notes and reminders.
• A revised Stocks app, with news stories and a landscape view.
• Landscape view available for Mail, Text and Notes.
• CalDAV support has been added to Calendar, along with subscriptions support in the .ics format.
• Apple’s major apps have all been expanded with search functionality.
• Note syncing to Mac and PC.
• YouTube account support.
• Form auto-fill.
• Phishing protection.
• Shake the shuffle iPod playback.

 

The beta version of the OS is available today for developers, and will be available to the public this summer as a free update to iPhone customers and for $9.95 for iPod touch owners. Due to hardware limitations, MMS and A2DP will not be available to the iPhone 2G.

[via Engadget & GSMArena]

Tags: Apple, iPhone