Apple's iPhone 2.0 firmware to bring contact search?

[AppleInsider]

Tucked away in Apple's presentation of its iPhone and iPod touch version 2.0 upgrade was evidence of a search feature coming to the handset's contact list.

As noted in a post by blarg Kaboom, an inconspicuous magnifying glass icon -- visible for just a few moments -- appears just above the alphabet search strip in the Contacts application in one of Apple's slides during the presentation from last week.

Without a live demonstration of the feature, the exact behavior of the icon is uncertain. Nonetheless, the image resembles the Spotlight icon in Mac OS X Leopard, alluding to a likely search function for iPhone owners with large contact lists or specific search criteria.

Apple hasn't discussed the presence of the image. No users with access to the iPhone software development kit have reported the feature appearing in the contact list for the version 2.0 beta, however, which hints at a feature either pulled from the software or else shelved until its planned final release in June.

In November, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster fueled speculation by claiming that a phone-wide search feature would appear along with the iPhone SDK for Apple's official announcement, which was planned for February at the time. While the accuracy of the researcher's sources has yet to be settled, they suggested that users could search not just contacts, but also data within calendars and email messages.

The lack of search has been a frequently cited omission from the iPhone's feature set since its launch last June.

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[buddha]

There's no link to click .

[jont-uk]

If my ailing memory can recall I thought there was the iPod Touch's 'contacts' icon on the main screen of the iPhone as well ... a big thumbs up from me as I find it a real pain to have to get to my contacts through the phone function ...

Jon

[suhail]

Cool, although that icon seems too small to be clickable, but I guess it will be changed.
So now all we need are:
1- Voice Dialing, for calling while driving.
2- Voice Recording, for taking audio notes on the go.

[futuramaking]

If you all so notice on the phone how it has the group icon next to "All Contacts".
hmm, I wonder what that could be.

[btitusjr]

Originally Posted by suhail

Cool, although that icon seems too small to be clickable, but I guess it will be changed.
So now all we need are:
1- Voice Dialing, for calling while driving.
2- Voice Recording, for taking audio notes on the go.

No I dont need that

[swilcox]

Let me take a wild stab: it does the SAME THING as it now does. That Group icon has been there all along.

[swilcox]

Originally Posted by btitusjr

No I dont need that

I don't either.

[MiMiC]

Originally Posted by jont-uk

If my ailing memory can recall I thought there was the iPod Touch's 'contacts' icon on the main screen of the iPhone as well ... a big thumbs up from me as I find it a real pain to have to get to my contacts through the phone function ...

Jon

VERY true.

Apple, i'm still waiting for...

• View Numbers files. Duh!
• Folder for storing files that i can view or send.
• Ability to save to that Docs folder.
• Ability to send contacts.
• Ability to send iCal events.

Also, i'm wondering why my phone wont sync my iCal and contacts correctly. I hope i don't have to 'restore' my phone

[TenoBell]

There are various icon changes in the 2.0 Apple showed. From what I remember the calculator icon was different and iTunes was different.

The phone will need system wide search. I already have four pages of web icons. Its becomimg a chore flicking from page to page. It will become worse when I add apps.

[nagromme]

Voice dialing is not important to me, but voice memos could be quick and convenient to have. Maybe built into Notes as a one-stop memo destination.

I like the idea of the search icon, but it doesn't stand out--maybe they should put it in a circle like the Tiger Spotlight icon.

[fishbert]

Originally Posted by futuramaking

If you all so notice on the phone how it has the group icon next to "All Contacts".
hmm, I wonder what that could be.

The Address Book interface in the iPhone SDK suggests the presence of contacts groups in version 2.0 of the iPhone software.

[FreeState]

Originally Posted by futuramaking

If you all so notice on the phone how it has the group icon next to "All Contacts".
hmm, I wonder what that could be.

Im guessing you do not have an iPhone - that has been there since the phones release - it goes back to the groups you have set up in your address book on a Mac. Its not new and we know what it does

[noirdesir]

Originally Posted by MiMiC

Apple, i'm still waiting for...

• View Numbers files. Duh!
• Folder for storing files that i can view or send.
• Ability to save to that Docs folder.
• Ability to send contacts.
• Ability to send iCal events.

And what about Expose and Fast User Switching. My iPhone won't replace my Mac until they have these

[tbusby]

Originally Posted by suhail

Cool, although that icon seems too small to be clickable, but I guess it will be changed.
So now all we need are:
1- Voice Dialing, for calling while driving.
2- Voice Recording, for taking audio notes on the go.

yeah, I would like that too, voice dialing especially. Surprised to see so many say they don't need it. I don't have an iPhone yet, still using a Windows based smartphone but I'm ready as soon as iPhone 2 arrives. The vioce dialing I use on my smartphone works great, no need to train it. I use it on the road thru bluetooth headset, just say "Dial xxxx" and away it goes. I hope this experience will be duplicated on the iPhone. I really don't like fumbling around with my phone while driving, so voice dialing is a must for me.

[aandf1978]

I just want simple functions for my iPhone:
- The ability to record Video
- The ability to send pix and flix messages without using the phone number email bypass
- The ability to make and/or buy other ringtones rather than spending $2 for each one from Apple

That would be a great start for me, after holding off on getting the iPhone since its debut I finally broke down and made the purchase only to find it lacked these simple yet effective abilities!!!

[Akac]

Originally Posted by nagromme

Voice dialing is not important to me, but voice memos could be quick and convenient to have. Maybe built into Notes as a one-stop memo destination.

Look for Note2Self coming to the iPhone. Its actually pretty slick since we can do some neat things on the iPhone we cannot do on other devices (not giving the ideas away).

[thrang]

1) Voice Dialing is important for many - my father won't buy one without it because he's used to pressing the button on his Jabra earset and speaking the name to dial on his Motorola V710. Really, anyone who drives. talks, and doesn't have sophisticated car phone integration can use this feature. And even when you're walking around, it's nice to not have to pull your phone out when you simply want to dial. But Apple WANTS people to pull the phone out, to show it off more...

2) What happened to copy/paste?

3) MMS

4) Flash

[suhail]

Voice dialing is especially important for the iPhone because there is no-way to feel the numbers with your fingers when driving, so you must take your eyes off the road, look at your screen and touch the numbers.
If you're using the address book and the number you need is not in your Favorites, you must first click the Phone icon, click the contacts icon, scroll to find your contact, click it, and then click the number to dial from the contact info screen. You must do all that while your eyes are on the phone, VERY dangerous when driving!

[MacHope theWorld]

Originally Posted by suhail

Cool, although that icon seems too small to be clickable, but I guess it will be changed.
So now all we need are:
1- Voice Dialing, for calling while driving.
2- Voice Recording, for taking audio notes on the go.

during the presentation, one of the components of the "media" layer of the OS was "voice recording" if i remember correctly. so it's there in the actual OS, apple just doesn't feel like using it yet.

[rhowarth]

But you can search your contacts already, even in 1.0 firmware. It's called the Maps application. Oh wait, that doesn't sound right. Let me go check.

[Jason94102]

Uh.. here's an idea.. don't make phone calls while you're driving! Idiots. Whether it's safer to have voice dialing than having to take your eyes off the road, you shouldn't be doing either. In the past month I've almost been run over in crosswalks which I had the green light twice by idiots with blue tooth headsets in their ears. Drive or make a phone call, don't do both. Likewise, when I'm driving the number of idiots I get behind driving 2mph or getting confused at urban intersections because they're trying to talk on a phone while driving through a dense, pedestrian heavy urban area is ridiculous. Pull over to make your calls. My god.

[btitusjr]

Originally Posted by suhail

Voice dialing is especially important for the iPhone because there is no-way to feel the numbers with your fingers when driving, so you must take your eyes off the road, look at your screen and touch the numbers.

I hope this is sarcasm.

[InfiniteWill]

This has been a deal breaker for me. I had to go back to my Treo 755p Having someone email or text me a number(s) and not being able to copy them and paste them is really a pain. Same for long URL's

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by btitusjr

I hope this is sarcasm.

I'm pretty sure it's not. There has been a lot of discussion about this when the iPhone was first released. There are people that dial when they drive, and they use the tactile feel of buttons or voice dialing to initiate their calls. Personally, I don't need the feature, I'd rather people not use the phone on the road, but I'd much rather people have it than take their eyes off the road to dial.

[supremedesigner]

I rememeber a while back or something when Steve was talkin' about the iPhone. The only thing that never been out to is the iPhone with the "shift" on the keyboard. It was in blue color instead of glowing. That will be very USEFUL if this is ever released. Did anyone noticed that? I can't remember if it was in Macworld 2008 (not 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone).... thanks!

[JupiterOne]

The Shift key is blue when you double-tap it. That is how you turn on Caps Lock. I don't know if it was there from the start or not.

[wprowe]

Originally Posted by thrang

4) Flash

Won't be on iPhone unless they can figure out how to take iPhone multi-touch events and turn them into reasonable Flash events that flash content can interact with. That would be a very complicated port to implement on the Cocoa Touch interface platform.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by suhail

Cool, although that icon seems too small to be clickable, but I guess it will be changed.
So now all we need are:
1- Voice Dialing, for calling while driving.
2- Voice Recording, for taking audio notes on the go.

Nice sig.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Jason94102

Uh.. here's an idea.. don't make phone calls while you're driving! Idiots. Whether it's safer to have voice dialing than having to take your eyes off the road, you shouldn't be doing either. In the past month I've almost been run over in crosswalks which I had the green light twice by idiots with blue tooth headsets in their ears. Drive or make a phone call, don't do both. Likewise, when I'm driving the number of idiots I get behind driving 2mph or getting confused at urban intersections because they're trying to talk on a phone while driving through a dense, pedestrian heavy urban area is ridiculous. Pull over to make your calls. My god.

This is true. Just being distracted while driving is enough to cause collisions and there is almost no difference between having a Bluetooth headset and physically using the phone. Our brains can't handle complex information from two sources at once (phone + driving). Frankly, all phone use while driving should be illegal.

[GregAlexander]

Originally Posted by wprowe

(Flash) Won't be on iPhone unless they can figure out how to take iPhone multi-touch events and turn them into reasonable Flash events that flash content can interact with. That would be a very complicated port to implement on the Cocoa Touch interface platform.

Yes, it'd be complicated..

I was very interested in Steve's comments about Flash support. He didn't say "we won't support flash" or that it's not coming - just that the full fledged flash player was too big and the mobile one inadequate...

I had to wonder if Apple had a different plan for flash support. eg: it's own flash player?