Life, technology, development, and occasional shameless ranting

It’s been a great long while since my last post, and what better way to get back into the swing of things than with some wonderful iPhone news! Today Apple sneak previewed the next iteration of their iPhone/iPod Touch software, version 3.0. It’s been a long time coming and some of users’ longest standing complaints will now be alleviated. Further, some new functionality has been thrown in which makes iPhone 3.0 all the more irresistible. Let’s take a look in more detail…

New features in iPhone 3.0:

• Cut/Copy & Paste text
• Copy and Paste photos – no more sending one photo per email (this is huge for me personally)
• Spotlight Search – anyone who has ever used Spotlight on Mac OS X knows how truly great of an universal search it is, and now that amazing search will be available on the iPhone- Spotlight will return results from your Contacts, Maps, iPod, and even 3rd Party apps if developers hook them into the Spotlight API
• Search in Mail, Calendar, and iPod – no more scrolling amongst hundreds or thousands of listings to find what you’re looking for
• 3G data tethering – Apple is building support for data tethering into version 3.0 of the iPhone software, the onus will be on the carriers to bring it to market
• Landscape Keyboard – now available in other applications like Mail, SMS, Notes
• MMS – about friggin’ time
• Support for new calendar formats – subscriptions to CalDAV (used by Google and Yahoo) and .ics (used by iCal)
• Improved Stocks app
• Stereo Bluetooth A2DP Audio – finally
• Notes will sync with iTunes
• Automatic login with Safari – it will remember your login credentials
• Shake to shuffle music (within the iPod app)
• Auto login to Wi-Fi hotspots
• Anti-phishing built into Safari
• More comprehensive parental controls

New Apple Applications that will ship with iPhone 3.0:

• Voice Memo app
• Send and receive files – dedicated to app to exchanged files between iPhones/iPod Touches

New Third Party App Features that will ship with iPhone 3.0:

• Peer-to-peer Bluetooth connectivity – opens up significant gaming possibilities
• Browse remote content – according to an Apple exec during the Q&A session today, third party apps could allow you to browse other people’s libraries on their iPhone or iPod Touch
• Use your iPhone/iPod Touch to control remote peripherals – a new API available to devs in the SDK will allow remote control of accessories such as external speakers, etc.
• Maps inside other applications – no more flipping to the maps app to look something up, thanks to a new API devs will be able to build maps right into their programs
• Turn-by-turn directions – devs will be able to create turn-by-turn directions apps using GPS information from the iPhone and combining it with their own maps, without depending on 3G connectivity or Google
• Push Notifications – FINALLY! (but I’ll still believe it when I see it)
• Voice communication in apps – apps in iPhone 3.0 will be able to utilize VoIP technology, meaning that you could chat with other users while playing a game against them, for example
• Access music from applications – devs will finally be able to access user’s libraries from within their applications (maybe we can finally get a decent Last.fm scrobbler app now)
• Various changes to app store purchasing options – subscriptions, purchase additional content for an app, purchase additional levels for games (all from within the app itself)

Now the big question, when will this thing be available. For paying iPhone developers enrolled in the dev program it’s available starting today, for the rest of us normal folk, Apple has said that it will be available “this summer.” Take that for code as “we’re not done with it yet, and really it’s not that close to being done either.” Remember, we were told push notifications were coming last September and this is the first we’re hearing of them, some six months later.

Oh Apple, why must you torment us so…