iPhone software v2.0 to add contact search, meeting invites

[AppleInsider]

A new beta of Apple Inc.'s iPhone software v2.0 released privately on Tuesday includes a handful of subtle refinements and feature additions, such as a contact list search.

The inability to search the address book and phone number listings has stood out as one of the iPhone's most glaring omissions given that such capabilities have routinely been included out-of-the-box on most rival handsets.

At last month's iPhone Software Roadmap event, Apple inadvertently dropped hints that the feature would finally arrive as part of the iPhone software v2.0 due this June when a slide demonstrating the some of the update's features revealed an inconspicuous magnifying glass icon atop the phone app's alphabet search strip.

Although the first few external betas of the iPhone software v2.0 did not include the feature, build 5A240d released on Tuesday does according to Engadget, as evidenced by the below screenshots.

Also new to the latest beta is an iCal meeting invites folder, accessible via a drawer icon at the bottom of the iPhone's iCal application -- a button that was disabled in previous builds.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[nagromme]

Calling it an "invite" instead of an "invitation" is a very advance feature.*

* That's right. "Advance."

[rei_vilo]

Nice news!

But when a to do list is going to be available ?

[Haggar]

Exchange Notes and Tasks support, please.

[solipsism]

While I'm glad a search feature is coming, but I don't think it's really needed for the consumer side. I have about 250 contacts and never have any trouble locating who I want. I have categories setup in Address Book that carry over and the ability to quickly flick to where I want to go; but the alphabet on the right side with will instantly get me to a last name or company I need.

The iPhone's fast UI and capacitance touchscreen make it much faster than any other phone or smartphone I've used. I probably won't be using the search feature much and, if I do, only if it can also search obscure information in the contact Notes.

[nagromme]

I do have a use for searching contacts, since I have such a mound of business contacts, each of whom I seldom contact. But searching other stuff--like Notes and Bookmarks would be even more welcome!

[Crtaylor]

Sounds like other than 3G and a few new bells and whistles, it almost looks like the same old iPhone. I think the SDK is still promising, though. I just want this thing to come out in June like its rumored in Australia right now and not be tied down to AT&T, which is not the best service in the US right now.

[jawporta]

I don't need to search a contact, I NEED TO SEARCH EMAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by jawporta

I don't need to search a contact, I NEED TO SEARCH EMAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent point. And searching AIM (coming soon), SMS, and internet history would be nice too, but I'm not holding my breath.

Originally Posted by Crtaylor

Sounds like other than 3G and a few new bells and whistles, it almost looks like the same old iPhone. I think the SDK is still promising, though. I just want this thing to come out in June like its rumored in Australia right now and not be tied down to AT&T, which is not the best service in the US right now.

The option for as many personalized apps via the SDK is a strong point. Plus, the iPhone is now in it's 7th OS version, with v2.0 to be the 8th.

What would you like to see?

[Outsider]

Perhaps a global spotlight like search that searches everything on the iPhone/iPod and separates it like the current spotlight interface.

[k squared]

Originally Posted by solipsism

The iPhone's fast UI and capacitance touchscreen make it much faster than any other phone or smartphone I've used. I probably won't be using the search feature much and, if I do, only if it can also search obscure information in the contact Notes.

Exactly. If I can search for restaurants in NYC or other such information without resorting to making groups, I'd use it.

Edit: What would be more helpful is if there was a global search app, so I can get email, contact info, and notes, etc all in a single window.

[psychodoughboy]

Sideways-oriented keyboard and mail searching would pretty much round out the last few things I'm looking for out of this.

[dehgenog]

Does the SDK provide support for conduit data management? (i.e. can a 3rd party make a ToDo list that syncs with iCal?)

[dagamer34]

Originally Posted by Haggar

Exchange Notes and Tasks support, please.

How about the iPhone actually sync notes and to-dos from Mail on OSX? Geez, it's a no-brainer!

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by k squared

Edit: What would be more helpful is if there was a global search app, so I can get email, contact info, and notes, etc all in a single window.

Good idea! I have seen no evidence that Apple will create this, but I also no reason why a savvy coder couldn't make a Universal Spotlight Search app for Mobile OS X. I might even pay $.99 for such an app if it was done well enough and would search any other 3rd-party app that maintained a database.

[brownreese]

No, the most glaring feature is not the lack of a search for a contact. That is what the little alpha navigation on the right of the contact screen is for.

Why can't we search emails?

Also... why can't we read emails using the landscape mode? Here's a no brainer.

[k2director]

Originally Posted by dagamer34

How about the iPhone actually sync notes and to-dos from Mail on OSX? Geez, it's a no-brainer!

Totally agree...especially about To Dos. To Dos are a fundamental part of personal time management, and are supported by every phone (let alone smart phones) I can think of. They're built into iCal and Mail, and it's just strange and idiotic that Apple hasn't bothered to support them in the iPhone by now.

[Thorge]

I am still desperately missing the sync function of ms to do's (iCal).
And - even my old iPod video was capable to so that - I'd like organize different calendars in my iPhone (e.g. different colors)!
Further more the German keyboard is a desaster: there is no option to manually type certain characters (such as ä, ö, ü) and word recognition isn't learning :-(
Apple: PLEASE don't disappoint us again!

Thorge

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by k2director

Totally agree...especially about To Dos. To Dos are a fundamental part of personal time management, and are supported by every phone (let alone smart phones) I can think of. They're built into iCal and Mail, and it's just strange and idiotic that Apple hasn't bothered to support them in the iPhone by now.

With all the other syncng going on the inability to sync Notes and To-Dos makes no sense no sense to me. The inclusion of these in Mail and connection with iCal made me think this was a guaranteed feature once Leopard was released. I would have bet money on it.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Good idea! I have seen no evidence that Apple will create this, but I also no reason why a savvy coder couldn't make a Universal Spotlight Search app for Mobile OS X. I might even pay $.99 for such an app if it was done well enough and would search any other 3rd-party app that maintained a database.

Wow Sol, 99 cents. That should get the developers slavering.

[TenoBell]

Sounds like other than 3G and a few new bells and whistles, it almost looks like the same old iPhone.

You are just looking at the surface. A lot is changing under the hood.

Apple has a few user interface patents for mobile devices that have not yet been used.

It'll probably be like the Leopard beta. Where the UI was the same as Tiger and Apple did not reveal the new UI until Leopard was launched.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by melgross

Wow Sol, 99 cents. That should get the developers slavering.

I might go as high as a whole dollar, but that is it. There is a middle school playing WoW right now who could make and still make plenty of money for college with a few weeks of work this summer.

Seriously though, I think we're going to see a lot of apps that are more complex than a search that are free. Like the free Dashboard Widgets for the 2006 World Cup that was constantly updated, I expect to see more than one app that lists the upcoming Olympic events, competitors, contestants and winners. And hopefully even YouTube links to videos of the competition. Am I asking too much?

[Robre]

Looks like we won't see much about the new features of the iPhone2 and s/w version 2.0 until it comes out in June (?). Apple seems a lot more "tight lipped" this years and with a good reason - last year the competition was 2 years out. This year - well - they are just (about) around the corner - actually waiting until iPhone2 is out for their releases (Nokia, Samsung...). Let's just hope that version 2 is bringing back the 2-years-ahead-of-everybody-else feeling. We all know that the implementation of features is driven by what one can do with the software and Apple is great at it. (I sure hope I don't have to eat my words in June in case there's still no ToDo list! )
If you are craving for some NEW iPhone adds - and you are not satisfied with the ones running now, check out the intro movie of this newcomer to the mobile phone world.
http://www8.garmin.com/buzz/nuvifone/media_gallery.jsp

True - it's just a demo and screen shots - still fun to watch! It's what below the surface that really counts on a daily basis. I call that the "Smooth Operator" factor, and Apple owns that. I just hope that Apple is it's own strongest competitor to the iPhone.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I might go as high as a whole dollar, but that is it. There is a middle school playing WoW right now who could make and still make plenty of money for college with a few weeks of work this summer.

Seriously though, I think we're going to see a lot of apps that are more complex than a search that are free. Like the free Dashboard Widgets for the 2006 World Cup that was constantly updated, I expect to see more than one app that lists the upcoming Olympic events, competitors, contestants and winners. And hopefully even YouTube links to videos of the competition. Am I asking too much?

I was going to make another joke, and say "always" to your question, but no, you're not.

[NasserAE]

Originally Posted by dagamer34

How about the iPhone actually sync notes and to-dos from Mail on OSX? Geez, it's a no-brainer!

hmm, I think it does!! To Do in Mail using an IMAP email account can be sync using the IMAP server. Did not try notes, but I guess it will work. THey will show up in your iPhone Mail as "Apple To Do" folder.

[Haggar]

Originally Posted by k2director

Totally agree...especially about To Dos. To Dos are a fundamental part of personal time management, and are supported by every phone (let alone smart phones) I can think of. They're built into iCal and Mail, and it's just strange and idiotic that Apple hasn't bothered to support them in the iPhone by now.

Apple licensed ActiveSync and ActiveSync supports Tasks on Exchange servers. At least on Windows Mobile devices. With Apple's new Enterprise focus for iPhone, people are expecting the iPhone to have all the Exchange client capabilities as other Windows Mobile devices, not just the "crippleware" functionality that Mac users have grown accustomed to. If iPhone is to be a first-class Exchange client, then it needs to support Exchange Notes and Tasks. Entourage, which is made by Microsoft, does not even support Notes and Tasks on a Microsoft Exchange server.

If iPhone could support Exchange Notes and Tasks, then these could be synchronized with other applications through the Mac OS Sync Services. How stupid would Microsoft look if the iPhone supported more Exchange client functionality than Microsoft Entourage?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Haggar

If iPhone could support Exchange Notes and Tasks, then these could be synchronized with other applications through the Mac OS Sync Services. How stupid would Microsoft look if the iPhone supported more Exchange client functionality than Microsoft Entourage?

I'd like to see full Exchange support in Mail and iCal now that they have licensed it.

[funkfeend]

Originally Posted by Haggar

Entourage, which is made by Microsoft, does not even support Notes and Tasks on a Microsoft Exchange server.

I just checked; the latest version (2008) does support notes and tasks.

[Tofino]

Originally Posted by Outsider

Perhaps a global spotlight like search that searches everything on the iPhone/iPod and separates it like the current spotlight interface.

i want the 'find elvis' feature that i had on my newton!

http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/~scheich/Newton/OS1.html

[LoB]

Any good news regarding calendar categories? At least on my iPod touch, Calendar does not support the categories (and color coding) used in iCal. I find it incredible, with such a nice screen, not to be able to view messages in the color corresponding to the category they belong to. It is simply unusable as long as you have more than one occupation in your life. A basic feature would also be a week view rather than this silly list view.

Notes and Tasks would also be a strict minimum, although the Calendar issues are the main reason why I am simply NOT using the iPod I have bought.

[CosmoNut]

This article is nice and all, but it's hardly information packed. It doesn't even say what city Apple is based out of!

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by CosmoNut

This article is nice and all, but it's hardly information packed. It doesn't even say what city Apple is based out of!

BWHAHAHAHAHA That had me in stitches.

[Haggar]

Originally Posted by funkfeend

I just checked; the latest version (2008) does support notes and tasks.

The notes and tasks in Entourage 2008 are local only to Entourage. They do not synchronize with an Exchange server, which means they cannot be viewed from Outlook. And any notes or tasks entered in Outlook are not accessible from Entourage.

[Outsider]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I'd like to see full Exchange support in Mail and iCal now that they have licensed it.

That's a different type of license. Active sync is only for mobile devices. Microsoft also offers a Outlook-Exchange Transport Protocol for desktop applications to interoperate with Exchange. Wonder why the MacBU overlooked this.

[CosmoNut]

I thank you. You're welcome. I'll be here all week.

[pressmeister]

Originally Posted by Thorge

I am still desperately missing the sync function of ms to do's (iCal).
And - even my old iPod video was capable to so that - I'd like organize different calendars in my iPhone (e.g. different colors)!
Further more the German keyboard is a desaster: there is no option to manually type certain characters (such as ä, ö, ü) and word recognition isn't learning :-(
Apple: PLEASE don't disappoint us again!

Thorge

You can do your special characters, just hold on the O or U key for a sec and it brings up the special versions. Can't beleive you've not figured this one out by accident yet!

[graxspoo]

The thing that I regularly find myself wanting is simple copy and paste...

For example, say I want to add a phone number from a web page to a contact... or copy an address from a web page into google maps, or forward just part of an email to a friend, or I start typing an SMS and decide it should really be an email, etc etc. The interoperability between apps on the iPhone is significantly limited without copy and paste...

I mean we've only had that ability in software since the early 1980s. There are people using iPhones who weren't even born then! Is this rocket science? (and yeah, I realize that maybe they need to come up with some new selection paradigm given the multi-touch interface... but still...)

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by graxspoo

The thing that I regularly find myself wanting is simple copy and paste...

I don't deny that C&P would be useful but I still haven't seen a simple way (outside of one video mockup) that would make this a simple task.

For example, say I want to add a phone number from a web page to a contact...

This is already possible. Click on the number, choose to call instead of canceling, hang up immediately and then save to existing or new contact from the Recent list.

or copy an address from a web page into google maps

This is already possible, too. the iPhone apps and OS X Mail.app will parse addresses and phone numbers.

or forward just part of an email to a friend,

This is more convoluted as it requires you to remove the unwanted data from the forwarded email.

I mean we've only had that ability in software since the early 1980s. There are people using iPhones who weren't even born then! Is this rocket science? (and yeah, I realize that maybe they need to come up with some new selection paradigm given the multi-touch interface... but still...)

We've also had jet packs since the 1960s and I'm still waiting for mine. Not all technologies easily work in other areas. You realize that they need a new model to do this, but you have not suggested any solutions.

Good or bad, my solution is to add an additional button to right side of the device (opposite the volume buttons) that would allow for secondary actions. If aesthetics is an issue they could make it flush and be a capacitance sensor behind the bezel.

[graxspoo]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I don't deny that C&P would be useful but I still haven't seen a simple way (outside of one video mockup) that would make this a simple task.

Yes, but I expect Apple to do insanely great things, not just simple things.

Originally Posted by solipsism

This is already possible. Click on the number, choose to call instead of canceling, hang up immediately and then save to existing or new contact from the Recent list.

Yuck! No, I'm not going to become a nuisance caller just because Apple can't get their act together.

Also, in my experience, the phone number parsing doesn't always get it right, and I want to edit the number to be dialed before actually dialing it. Copy and paste would solve this as well.

Originally Posted by solipsism

This is already possible, too. the iPhone apps and OS X Mail.app will parse addresses and phone numbers.

Not in my experience. I just tried it again to make sure I wasn't forgetting something... but no. The whole point is that copy and paste allows users to combine apps in ways that the authors did not originally think of... That's the power of it. The only alternative is for Apple to add specific commands for each possible combination, which, I submit, is actually more cumbersome and unwieldy in the long run.

Originally Posted by solipsism

We've also had jet packs since the 1960s and I'm still waiting for mine. Not all technologies easily work in other areas. You realize that they need a new model to do this, but you have not suggested any solutions.

OK here: Slide your finger in a diagonal swipe from bottom to top of the screen: this brings up a tool palette which has a number of things on it including selection anchors. You drag the selection anchor off the tool palette to set the beginning of your selection range, and then another anchor to establish the end of your selection range. The other things in the palette are commands that apply to the clipboard and selection: you touch "copy"... Next you navigate to where you want to paste, again you bring up the palette with a diagonal swipe, and press "paste." Viola. No hardware mods required.

Or, here's an even more "multi-touchy" solution: Click and hold on a word. After a bit, an "ooze" comes out of the end of your finger around the word your touching. You can "smear" the beginnings and endings of the ooze, thereby adjusting the selection range. Next, double tap on the selected oozy range, and pick "copy" from the dialog that comes up. Navigate to some other text box, and double tap, which brings up another dialog, and you pick "paste."

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by graxspoo

Yes, but I expect Apple to do insanely great things, not just simple things.

I didn't mean do something simple and implement it, which is what the hacked apps for iPhone do. I meant make the app intuitive enough to be simple for the end user. In other words, can the very old and very young understand it with little to no instruction.

Yuck! No, I'm not going to become a nuisance caller just because Apple can't get their act together.

HAHA You don't have to. You hit end call before the call connects. I see your point, but this is a phone and expecting the same exact functionality as home computer just isn't going to ever make you happy.

Not in my experience. I just tried it again to make sure I wasn't forgetting something... but no.

I use it all the time. I use Mobile Safari to look up a location and then click to call or click to look up in Google Maps on the iPhone. I can then do direction and use my current location to get full directions in a few seconds and with only a few inputs. I can't believe how useful this is to me.

OK here: Slide your finger in a diagonal swipe from bottom to top of the screen: this brings up a tool palette which has a number of things on it including selection anchors. You drag the selection anchor off the tool palette to set the beginning of your selection range, and then another anchor to establish the end of your selection range. The other things in the palette are commands that apply to the clipboard and selection: you touch "copy"... Next you navigate to where you want to paste, again you bring up the palette with a diagonal swipe, and press "paste." Viola. No hardware mods required.

I think the diagonal would be too much. There is already left and right swipe for Safari and up and down for SMS, Mail and Safari. I am quite fast with my "flicking" and wouldn't want to slow down to be more exacting so I don't inadvertently bring up a new menu.

SMS and Mail could use a side-to-side swipe for accessing the menu but this would leave out Safari, and we know using different methods for the same action is not the Apple way.

See, your solution got me thinking of one that doesn't use an additional button, too... What about the curl page effect that Apple uses for the option for Google Maps. Some icons would have to be moved, but when curled their could be multiple options to chose from. C&P could be done by clicking on the Copy button, which uncurls the page and lets you choose the first point by initiating a holding press, like with moving the icons on the home page, so it would allow you still navigate the page. The second hold press would generate a square around the text and images within the square with the outside area grayed out. You could then drag the corners to the exact area you wish. Then you curl the page and have a new choice of buttons that allow you to save the text and images or just the text.

I would expect that there would be a clipboard that would save many different cuttings.

For pasting, you would put the cursor in the correct place, curl the page and choose Paste, which would then scroll up a list of your clippings. You click the correct one and it's automatically inserted. You could also edit these clippings and move them around the way you can for the iPhone Stocks.