iPhone 3.0 Beta Preview.

So I was able to get my hands on the beta version of the iPhone 3.0 software due out this summer. I'm going to run down some of the new features you expect in 3.0 and how said features are working so far.

Cut, Copy, & Paste

This has gotta be the most requested feature that iPhone users have wanted and iPhone hater have bragged about. CC&P couldn't be easier to use on the iPhone, simply hold your finger down on some part of the text that you want to CC&P. Then you get the two "bookend" markers and just adjust those over your desired text and select cut or copy.

Now, get to the spot were you would like to paste said text and simply tap. The paste dialog comes up, and you're all done. CC&P works across all applications, email, notes, web, 3rd party apps, etc... Apple also included a cool 'undo' feature to CC&P, shake your iPhone and an undo dialog box pops up giving you the option to take back you paste.

Call Information

A small, but nice, addition is more details added to you phone call history. Black text with the little phone symbol means out going call, just black mean, incoming, and red is a missed call.

The out going feature is what's new here and you can see just how detailed in gets in this screen, you now get the time and duration that each call was made.

Spotlight Search

There is a new homepage that is on the far left (note the magnifying in the first screen shot )that is dedicated to search. Simply start typing and the iPhone searches the entire phone, it's unclear at this time if 3rd party apps will have privilege to this search function.

A quick search of the term "iphone" brought up two results for an email, and a calendar note. You can search, songs, emails, calendar, notes, applications, and contacts.

Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)

Stereo bluetooth or geekily know as A2DP, is a fancy term for wireless headphones. So finally us iPhone users can finally go cordless while rockin' out. With A2DP you also have to option to be able to use your A2DP headphones as a headset to make and receive calls. I just got a pair of the Motorola S9-HD and so far the experience has been great.

There is a new Bluetooth icon on the bottom right when the iPhone is in iPod mode. Pushing this button brings up a dialog box asking where you would like your audio routed to. With my new headset I was able to listen to music and take/receive phone calls but the only button on the headset that seem to work is volume. I'm not sure if this is an Apple issue or a Moto issue, but I'm hoping it's a something that will be fixed when 3.0 comes out this summer.

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

MMS is best decribed as SMS's (text messaging) big brother. With the new MMS feature in 3.0 you will be able to send pictures, voice memos, and rumored videos, as well as standard text messages.

Most descent phones these days have MMS capabilities and Apple took a lot of heat by not including it thus far in the iPhone. In my opinion, I've never liked MMS and never knew anyone that used it. Apple rightly touted email as a far superior way to send these files, but it seems the loud minority has made Apple change their mind. I do like Apples implementation of MMS, so who knows maybe I'll grow to use it.

AutoFill

This is one of the more interesting features because I've heard nothing about it. Basically it uses your contact information and can fill in web forms for you. Name, phone number, email, address, passwords... I've used it a few times and it's worked perfect everytime, I see this becoming a very handy time saver.

Honorable Mention Features

• In-App Purchases - Developers can now offer you purchases in-app/game to buy more stuff. New levels, new content, new info. This is going to be a good thing for apps like, games, eBook readers, new paper apps.
• 3rd Party Access - Developers can now custom make apps that work with specific hardware components by wire or Bluetooth. The app Apple showed off was a Glucose monitor that plugged into the iPhone and kept records for your suger levels on you phone, giving you a better way to keep track of your levels.
• Turn By Turn GPS - Finally Apple will allow devs to make a GPS app with Turn-By-Turn directions. The catch? Devs have to bring their own maps to the party, the iPhone Google Maps can not be used. So expect some apps from Tom Tom and Garmin, but I wouldn't hold your breath for a small player to pay for map license fee's.
• Voice Memos - A new Apple made app, Voice Memos, allows you to record, send, and edit voice memos.
• Notes Sync - Now your iPhone notes will sync to either your Mail.app or Outlook software.
• Tethering - This is the act of connecting your iPhone to your computer and surfing the web through your iPhone's data connection anywhere. Don't have WiFi around? No problem just connect your iPhone to your computer and away you're surfing. Apple has this feature ready but is waiting on individual carries to "aprove" the use of such an app. Boo AT&T.
• Push Notification - This is Apple way to conserve battery life but allow apps to pseudo work in the background. Right now if you have an IM client on your iPhone, the app has to be open for you to be able to receive IM messages. With Push, even when the iPhone is asleep you will receice data from apps set to use the Push service.
  

As I find out more I'll keep you updated.

iPhone 3.0 Update! Tons Of New Features...

[Stolen from Engadget]

As promised, Apple just debuted its upcoming iPhone OS 3.0. Much of the news seemed developer-centric, but there are certainly plenty of consumer implications down the road, along with long-awaited functions like copy and paste, A2DP, MMS and universal Spotlight search. Improvements include:

App and developer functionality (more here)

• 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. (more here)
• MMS, along with forward and delete for multiple messages. (more here)
  
• A2DP stereo Bluetooth.
• Unlocked Bluetooth functionality on 2G iPod touch. (more here)
• Spotlight has been added to a new home screen page to the left of existing pages, allowing for universal search on the phone. (more here)
• 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.

A developer beta of OS 3.0 is available today, and the 3.0 update will be coming to consumers this summer as a free update to all iPhone 3G customers. It'll also work for 1st gen iPhone owners, though they won't receive A2DP or MMS due to hardware limitations. iPod touch owners will be able to update for $9.95, just like last time.

The Best Reason To Jailbreak Your iPhone.

So I decided to jailbreak my iPhone 3G solely for this app, PdaNet. It's a very simple but amazingly useful tool, it let's you use your AT&T 3G connection on your laptop. So basically you connect you iPhone and laptop together via WiFi and then over your 3G connection your laptop can browse the internet.

My point is that anywhere you have cell coverage you can get online with you laptop, for "free". So you'll never have to worry about finding a WiFi spot, just bring your iPhone along and you're good to go.

Over at: www.iSmashPhone.com they have several very good tutorials on how to jailbreak your phone and how to get PdaNet up and running. The one that I used to get PdaNet up and running is this one here.

Stream Your Friends Music Right To Your iPhone.

This by far is the coolest app I've seen yet on the iPhone. Simplify Media let's you stream your music from your computer (iTunes) right to you iPhone/iTouch over Edge, 3G, or Wi-Fi. So you could have ZERO music stored on your iPhone and still be able to listen to your whole music library anytime, anywhere

First off: Download/install the app to your computer: (Free)

http://www.simplifymedia.com/download.html

Then setup your free account and create a user name, that name is what you give to your friends so they can listen to your music.

Then just download the app for the iPhone, link below:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284941327&mt=8

After it installs you enter your user name and password, and boom you (and your friends) iTunes libraries just show up ready to play.

So think about this, you share yours I share mine, and get a few other friends in the mix and you've got thousands of songs to listen to anywhere! All you have to do is once installed, click the 'invite' button and use my screen name: jayman16 (or any friends screen name) and then you give them access to your music.

So once you set up your account invite me and I will do the same, just send me an email with your screen name and I'll add you to my list.

As of right now (10:30pm Aug 14th) Simplified Media is giving away the first 100,000 of the iPhone app for FREE. After that it's only gonna be $3.99, but hey get it while it free!

Update Your iPhone.

So the iPhone update 2.0.1 is out. Since the release of the iPhone 3G and the 2.0 software for all the iPhone's (& iPod Touch's) people have been complaining about crashes and sluggishness of the iPhone. Hopefully this patch will fix some of these issues. Apple, of course is being quiet on what fixes are included in the patch but here's the list so far:

• Faster keyboard response time
• Less lag in the phone book
• Quick sync/backup times

I'll post more as info comes in.

Gaming On The iPhone.

Rolando for iPhone - Teaser trailer from handcircus on Vimeo.

Gaming on the iPhone is gonna be huge and this is one of the first games I'll be picking up.

AT&T Announces iPhone 3G Info.

TUAW has a great summery of the new info from AT&T:

In addition to touting the iPhone 3G's feature-set and a 3G-coverage tool, AT&T has officially clarified upgrade pricing for existing non-iPhone owning AT&T customers (as we covered a few weeks ago, current iPhone customers are automatically eligible to upgrade at the new $299 price).

If you are an AT&T customer who does not qualify for the upgrade pricing, you can get the 8 GB iPhone 3G for $399.99 and the 16 GB iPhone 3G for $499.99 -- or a $200 premium. A two-year contract must still be signed.AT&T has also announced that the iPhone 3G will be available at 8 a.m. on Friday, July 11, 2008 at AT&T retail stores.Even more exciting -- for the contract-averse among us -- AT&T states:"Coming soon, AT&T will offer a no-commitment option of $599 for 8GB and $699 for 16GB."

WWDC '08 In 60 Seconds.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's a down and dirty version that gives you all the info.

From iPhone To Go Phone.

So I was able to sell my newly refurbished iPhone for $300 dollars in a deal I brokered over the weekend. It always helps to be in the know regarding new technology releases...

The bad part is I knew a 3G iPhone was coming I just didn't know when. Well Apple announced today that the new iPhone will be shipping July 11th. So that means for the next month I will be iPhoneless. I picked up an AT&T GoPhone (there pay-as-you-go phone) and just threw in my SIM card.

Well, you never miss anything till it's gone and boy do I miss my iPhone already. It's only been six hours but I think I've found a solution:

GoPhone + iPod Nano = iPhone Killer.

I know, you're all jealous...

Apple Announces The iPhone 3G.

Finally.

After months of speculation and rampant rumors, Steve Jobs unveiled the true iPhone 3G. So what are the final specs?

• Two models: 8GB ($199) and a 16GB ($299) Huge price cut!
• Slight redesign - The top and bottom are now curved and the back is all plastic. The 16GB version comes in either Black or White.
• 3G - The biggest feature request, this will double your internet speeds while on the go.
• GPS - Now the iPhone can pinpoint your location exactly and give you directions.
  
• Apps Store - This will be coming to the both iPhone versions since it is just a simple software update. But now you can buy games and applications straight from your phone from anyone who wants to make applications. Notable developers are: MLB, eBay, Sega, and of course Apple.
• Mobile Me - Apple has renamed .Mac and added tons of cool new features and a great new web interface at www.me.com
  

The iPhone now supports Microsoft Exchange, it will now compete head-to-head with the Blackberry. (And win.)

The back of the iPhone 3G is now a glossy black (or white) plastic, the volume and the mute switch have turned to silver.

A profile shot that shows off the new curves of the iPhone 3G.

A good look at the white model, only available in the 16GB model. I haven't decided if I like ithe white or not.

One of the apps shown off today was from Major League Baseball, as you can see it will keep you up to date with the latest baseball scores. Even more impressive though, is that they will have realtime video highlights from games that are currently playing! So even at work so won't miss that amazing diving catch.

Another app that is coming out on launch day is from eBay. Get notifications on everything you are selling/buying, or even browse items all from your iPhone.

As I said, Mobile Me is Apple's new name for .Mac. What does MobileMe do?

• Sync's your contacts, email, and calendar across all your devices. Mac, PC, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Instantly.
• Give's you an email address. yourname@me.com Legacy .Mac users can choose to keep their .Mac address or transfer to a Me.com address.
• Give's you 20GB of file storage. Got files you want to share? Or files that you would like access to on the go, just upload them to MobileMe's iDisk feature and now you can get those files anywhere.

So now who wants a $199 3G iPhone?

3G iPhone Rumor Roundup.

Have some questions about the new iPhone set to launch any time now? Here all the unofficial info so far:

• 3G - What does this mean? It means faster internet when you're on the go. The iPhone uses AT&T's cellular network for internet access. The original iPhone used AT&T's older 2G network, and the new 3G iPhone will, of course, use AT&T's newer 3G network. Which means faster.
• Front Camera - In the picture mock-up above, there is a camera lens on the upper right of the phone next to the speaker. The speculation is that along with the new iPhone software having iChat ( Apple's instant messaging program) it will also support video chat to other 3G iPhone users or even people using iChat on their Macs.
• GPS - Most modern phones these days have some sort of GPS capabilities built in, but the iPhone is just begging for it. With it's amazing Google Maps functionality, GPS would be perfect for the iPhone. As the current iPhone stands now, it has sort of a pseudo GPS functionality where it guesstimates your approximate location with cell phone towers. It's a safe bet that true GPS will be in the 3G iPhone.
• Case Redesign - 3rd party cell phone case maker XSKN has basically confirmed the new design of the 3G iPhone. Hell, you can even buy a case for the yet to be released iPhone on their website now! The picture below is straight from XSKN's website and clearly shows you the difference between the old and the new iPhone.
• Storage Increase - When the iPhone first launched last year it came in 4GB and 8GB variety, today the two options are 8GB and 16GB. We know that 32GB can fit inside the iPod Touch, so it would only make sense that the 3G iPhone will see a memory boost as well. My bet, 16GB ($400) and 32GB ($500).
• Rebates, Rebates, Rebates - When the iPhone first launched it was $600 dollars period. No discounts, no rebates, no promotions. In less than 60 days from the iPhone's launch date Apple dropped the iPhone's price to $400! Even though they gave (us) early adopters a $100 credit (genius on Apple's part) that's still quite a price drop in less than 3 months on a device that is selling like hot cakes. So this this around it looks like Apple is going the route of 99% of other cell phones and letting the cell companies subsidize the cost with rebates. So you could get your own 3G iPhone for the low price of $200, of course after you sign away your first born child to AT&T.

So be on the look out on June 9th for some "official" announcement on the 3G iPhone.

Apple Sort Of Announces 3G iPhone.

Some of the luck developers that are playing with the soon-to-be released iPhone 2.0 software have spotted this little nugget in the latest firmware build. Why won't Apple just announce this thing already.