The launch of Apple's new iPhone 3.0 firmware update was greeted with cheers and disappointment alike. However, following are 12 things you need to know about it, so you can know whether it's worth upgrading to or not.
1. Copy and Paste
Although this feature is available on all smartphones these days, Apple has managed to make this tiny feature into a Big Deal, and the way you do it (double tap to magnify text, scrolling and grabbing the beginning and end points) is pretty darn cool too.
2. The sheer range of APIs released
Slightly hidden from the consumer eye was Apple's larger onslaught into making the iPhone the most customisable handset out on the market. A thousands of APIs, allowing things like peer to peer Bluetooth connection for multiplayer gaming or contact sending, or allowing Google Maps to be used within other applications, so finding that restaurant is suddenly going to be a lot easier.
3. Using the iPhone to control accessories
This feature allows manufacturers to make Apps specifically for their hardware. It means things like the Lifescan from Johnson & Johnson are now possible, allowing diabetes sufferers to keep a visual record of their glucose levels. But the possibilities are now seemingly endless... you could make a golf accessory that assesses your swing using motion sensors and then Bluetooth the results to the iPhone for analysis.
4. Internet tethering
Apple has also used this little trick to add tethering to the iPhone, meaning you can connect it to your PC via USB or Bluetooth and use it as a modem. However, the bad news is that tethering is not going to come cheap.
5. MMS support
We all thought Apple would never do it, preferring to make sure the world thinks that email is properly where it's at for sending pictures. But it's not just those slightly funny snaps you can ping over to your mates' phones now, it's also location info, contact sending and even audio files that can be passed to a friend's phone, so if you want to stalk someone AND listen to the same things as them, this is the upgrade for you.
6. Spotlight
Apple has found a new space within the iPhone... scrolling left from the homescreen. This new area allows you to search over the whole iPhone / iPod touch, and even finds Apps (if they're Spotlight enabled). So if you're sure that you saw someone's name somewhere in the phone... you'll be able to find it now. And if you have a trillion Apps on there and countless home screens to scroll through you can now move straight there rather than straining your finger.
7. Localised search
As well as being able to search over the whole thing in Spotlight, you now have the option to search specifically in certain areas. There's nothing on the phone itself, users will also have the option to take things further afield by looking on a registered server to find the information there too.
8. Push notification
The push notifications are the next best thing, with the phone keeping a constant connection to email servers and IM applications.
9. Turn by turn directions
The problem with using the iPhone as a GPS navigation device in a car is, well, you can't really, unless you want to keep taking your eyes off the road to look where you are on the map, so the addition of turn-by-turn directions is a big plus in that department. However, thanks to the big wide world of licensing agreements, you can't use Google Maps for the application, so if you want to make a turn-by-turn effort, you best bring your own maps.
10. In-App purchase
This is another App-changer for iPhone-ites, allowing you to pay for things inside a program. What this essentially means is you'll be able to customise Apps as you want them, ie a magazine can be offered for free and you choose to subscribe from within the App, with the standard iTunes purchase interface popping up to confirm. By the way, you can also get in-game rumbling too... it's not important enough for its own point on this list, but it's pretty cool too.
11. Landscape QWERTY keyboard, A2DP and shake to shuffle
Apple has finally dripped out a couple of things that iPhone users the world over have been asking for, like being able to use something else other than the QWERTY portrait keyboard. So the addition of a landscape option for all text input is a real plus, though we can't see why it has taken so long. And while we're on music playback, the new iPhone 3.0 upgrade also includes support for shake to shuffle, meaning if you're bored of the current song and want a new one, you can randomly pick it by shaking the device. Sweet.
12. Best of the rest
Of course, there's a lot more to come from the iPhone 3.0 upgrade with some pretty big additions and some incremental ones, and while we think you'll want to have a poke around yourself to see what's new, here's a run down on all the other changes:
- Voice memo - Basically, the iPhone is now a dictaphone too, with an old-school sound meter to find out how loud things are getting when you're trying to record your partner sleeping to prove just how noisy their snoring is.
- More content direct to the iPhone - Buy films, TV programmes and audiobooks via the iTunes store, and download films direct from the internets to your iPhone.
- Improves Stocks App - Get more easy to read information and view your important money charts in landscape.
- Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe - Locate your phone on a map, send a message to the person that has it asking for it back and if that fails, wipe the phone from your computer.
- New Safari features - New bits and pieces for the browser like faster performance, autofill user names and passwords.
As you probably know, the software will be available for download from Apple's website, so hot foot it over there to get it as soon as you can.
