I doubt that, Bluetooth printing probably requires the device to support the appropriate protocol.
They specifically said standard protocols were supported and custom protocols could be added for bluetooth. I take that to mean that yes, an app could add support for bluetooth printing.
And if that's the case, it will be. If I was a photo-printing manufacturer I'd be scrambling now to have the first iPhone-compatible photo printer. Print straight from your phone, I'd say! (Even though I personally would rarely if ever use this functionality myself.)
You may find it on torrent sites... But beware that installing it on an iPhone that is not registered as a development iPhone on the iPhone Developer Portal will render your iPhone totally useless (because you won't be able to activate it anymore).
Can anyone tell me if you can turn off landscape view when texting? I think I'm about the only person in the world that doesnt want this feature and it will drive me insane!
Your not alone. I often use my iPhone when lying down, which means its on its side when viewing. It annoys me when the phone switches to landscape mode. I too wish I could turn it off.
All the features are great, and i'm really looking forward to this update, but funnily enough, its support for profiles in the YouTube app i'm most looking forward to, lol. The other features I've only ever needed occasionally. Still really looking forward to the update! I wish apple would release a list of all the '100' new features though.
The support for third-party hardware app control is interesting. I've long wanted a cable (though wirelessly through bluetooth would be better) that would allow remote.app to control an ipod classic. The nice easy to use UI of iPhone OS with the capacity of an iPod classic. I can dream.
Your not alone. I often use my iPhone when lying down, which means its on its side when viewing. It annoys me when the phone switches to landscape mode. I too wish I could turn it off.
All the features are great, and i'm really looking forward to this update, but funnily enough, its support for profiles in the YouTube app i'm most looking forward to, lol. The other features I've only ever needed occasionally. Still really looking forward to the update! I wish apple would release a list of all the '100' new features.
I don't understand what you guys are saying here.
I also use my phone when lying in bed. I either use it vertically, or horizontally. What's the problem here?
Can anyone with 3.0 tell me how the "Show Preview" function works. When it is off, does anything still pop up on the screen or does the sound just play?
If you read a book in bed, lying on your side, do you stand the book upright or turn it sideways in line with your head & body?
The iPhone doesn't give you a choice, you turn it sideways and it changes the text orientation.
That's interesting. I never read lying on my side. It's either sitting partly up, or lying down, with my hard propped up a bit.
Some book readers allow you to lock in either way, some require an explicit instruction to change the orientation, but I'd have to check all that I have, as I never do that. It is up to the program, rather than the phone.
If you read a book in bed, lying on your side, do you stand the book upright or turn it sideways in line with your head & body?
The iPhone doesn't give you a choice, you turn it sideways and it changes the text orientation.
This is the book reading app's problem not the iPhone. A book reading app could easily provide this option to not change orientation in current iPhone OS.
This is the book reading app's problem not the iPhone. A book reading app could easily provide this option to not change orientation in current iPhone OS.
Not really. Though this is something book readers could (and almost certainly should) provide as a feature, the problem extends to many apps on the iPhone. By the way, some of the book reader apps on the iPhone DO provide this feature (orientation locking) already. But we read and interact in many apps besides book-reading apps. Most of those can be done laying down, and so can fall into the problem of fighting the accelerometer to keep screen layout from switching back and forth on you.
The problem is two-fold:
1. Most apps can and should provide two orientations. There are lots of different reasons, sometimes to provide a different view of data (such as graph when horizontal), sometimes to provide bigger view (I sometimes read websites sideways rather than zooming and swiping back and forth), sometimes to get the wide keyboard. We'll ignore apps that already lock into a single orientation for a given view (whether they should - many games fall in this category - or not).
In addition, most of the time for most mobile phone users, context can and should be used to switch views fluently at customer demand without requiring specific interaction. The visual explanation is: when the customer turns the phone sideways, they want to look at a "sideways" view. The auto-rotation is a beautiful feature.
2. Being a mobile phone, it can be used in all kinds of ways. Including laying down, on a couch or bed or what-have-you, even sideways. This is really the main place that problems come in. It's not so much that auto-rotation is a problem though - more that the person's definition of "horizontal" and "vertical" have changed so much from normal assumptions that they're actually reversed.
I can think of a few theoretical solutions:
A. Apple could provide a "orientation lock" mechanism that could be easily enabled and disabled. Whether it is a shake, a 5-finger gesture, or a switch, there could be a way to say "don't flip the screen on me right now."
B. There could be a "calibration" mode to say "this is what I want to be vertical (or horizontal) for a given session. It would have to be quick and once again easy to trigger, easy to reset.
C. Somehow allow the phone to determine a person's physical orientation (ie how is the phone oriented relative to the user's body rather than to gravity). Maybe some type of video sensor, or even where a person's fingers are placed and pressed on the side of the iPhone body.
D. It's possible that a large portion of the problem cases come from when the phone is near the flat (horizontal) position. Another differently oriented sensor might help with this case? I don't know enough about how the sensors are used specifically on the iPhone to do more than guess here.
All of these seem incredibly difficult to do in a more robust way that doesn't break any of the current interactions, and substantially improves the interactions that aren't currently working well. Like cut-n-paste, this is not as simple of a problem as it might look.
I'm still waiting for iCal to have even half the features that Clarisworks Calendar had back in 1997.
So don't hold your breath.
Apple is is 12 YEARS behind in calendar technology... not good.
Clarisworks didn't have a Calendar. So Apple's iPhone calendar has much more than that.
Are you thinking of Claris Organizer, that later became the Palm desktop software for Mac? I wouldn't say half the features. Palm desktop had categories instead of multiple Calendars, and allowed attachments (basically file and person links), but that's about it. Remember though, that it's a phone application, not a desktop application.
this may have been brought up earlier or somewhere else... but is one of the new features video recording
No, no video features or direct access to camera were announced. Though I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be a feature for the latest hardware iPhone that is expected this summer. At least, I'm personally hoping. Not that I'll need a reason - more memory and faster processors will be enough to get me off my first gen iPhone.
this may have been brought up earlier or somewhere else... but is one of the new features video recording
No, but we have to wait for the new model to arrive this summer. It's quite possible that video is unlocked, but only for the new models.
If so, Apple wouldn't want to state that so early, as sales would plummet. with the economy and stock market the way they are, Apple wouldn't want to see that happen. Not that they're the most talkative anyway.
Your not alone. I often use my iPhone when lying down, which means its on its side when viewing. It annoys me when the phone switches to landscape mode. I too wish I could turn it off.
All the features are great, and i'm really looking forward to this update, but funnily enough, its support for profiles in the YouTube app i'm most looking forward to, lol. The other features I've only ever needed occasionally. Still really looking forward to the update! I wish apple would release a list of all the '100' new features though.
The support for third-party hardware app control is interesting. I've long wanted a cable (though wirelessly through bluetooth would be better) that would allow remote.app to control an ipod classic. The nice easy to use UI of iPhone OS with the capacity of an iPod classic. I can dream.
Thought I'd write up a quick review of the iPhone OS 3.0 beta that Apple launched on Tuesday.
I definitely debated long and hard about installing the 3.0 beta OS, as I can't go back to 2.2.x now that it is installed, but I wanted to see the new features first-hand, and also get a feel for what is new and possible for app development and how the new OS would impact one of our existing applications, TaxiFlasher (App Store Link: http://su.sg/cf07)
In short: I'm glad I tested it, I wish I could go back to 2.2.1 now -- it just too buggy for everyday use (and I miss the apps that 3.0beta broke.) BUT, I can still use my phone, and I'm sure new versions of the beta will fix some of the problems. However, I doubt the apps will be fully fixed until after 3.0 is launched.
First, the Pros:
* Cut, Copy, and Paste works great, and works anywhere you can input text, as well as places where large blocks of text are displayed (like in Safari, the web browser). I really like this feature.
(Note: Sadly, it does NOT seem like you can copy and paste calendar events.)
I can't seem to copy images from web pages, but I can save them, and then use the photos app to mail them or attach to contact, etc.
* You can "Edit" a SMS conversation now, to delete specific texts (instead of clear all) and forward specific texts (HUGE!)
* You can now "Share" a contact by emailing (as .vcf) it or sending it via SMS. This is very cool.
* You can now email a note in the Notes app, as well has have them auto-sync inside of Apple's Mail.app MacOS program, which is nice.
* Landscape view and text entry in IM, SMS, and Mail -- this is HUGE for me, having fat fingers I had real issues with the portrait-mode keyboard both in incorrectly pressing keys and in slowdowns from finger/thumb awkwardness. Landscape mode is significantly easier for me, and I can type faster and more accurately as a result.
It also appears that Apple has updated both landscape and portrait keyboards slightly, both in looks and in function, which feels less visually polished (less pretty) but more usable and accurate.
* New features in Apple apps (e.g. Mail, maps, etc...): there are several small, mostly subtle changes that are all generally positive. They are almost all "oh, that's better" instead of a "WOW, that changes everything!".
* Ability to search in Mail, even across IMAP accounts, is HUGE and a major upgrade from the previous mail app. This is critical if you're using an IMAP account and need to reference a long-ago previous email.
* The phone-wide search feature (iPhone spotlight) is GREAT, although I haven't used it since I tested it out. (I think this is because I don't even think to use it, which should change over time). This will help me find apps that I rarely use, contacts quickly, and stuff in notes.
* So far nothing has crashed without an ability to recover, either by re-launching or by freeing up memory or rebooting.
* I really like that I can now encrypt my iPhone backup data from an iTunes sync, BUT, being beta X.0 functionality I don't trust it yet. Might wait for 3.0.1 first.
Now, the cons, of which there are many:
* SIGNIFICANTLY slower across the board. Everything, including other apps, goes MUCH slower, and you can feel it. Sometimes you worry that apps have frozen as they take so much longer. Gets slower the longer you go without a reboot.
* Serious memory leaks. Sometimes you can just use the "FreeMemory" app to clear up space, but often that clears out the memory but it just quickly fills back up, and you still have to do a full hardware reboot. I generally have to do this between each app usage, and have to reboot several times a day. (With 2.2.x I was rebooting 2-4x/day on average, with 3.0beta I'm rebooting 4-16x/day). One time I used FreeMemory, made 22+ MB avail, and within 15 seconds it was back down to less than 10MB and within 30 seconds it was down below 2MB free, all without actually leaving FreeMemory. I repeated the process several times, each with similar results. I ultimately had to hard-reboot to get it to stop. (This is possibly a bug in FreeMemory, but it seemed to work as it did in 2.2.x...)
* App problems across the board. Apps that worked fine in 2.2.x (like WordBook and SkyCoaster3D) have problems in 3.0beta. Sometimes I can fix this by using FreeMemory, sometimes I fix it by rebooting, and sometimes I just can't fix it and it's really annoying. (e.g. WordBook's "search" feature just doesn't work despite many attempts.)
* Rotation bugs abound -- there's lots of places in the apps that in 3.0 have been updated to support landscape mode (mail, SMS, etc...) that do not handle rotation perfectly, and sometimes a rotation will result in a broken view layout (e.g. the display table doesn't stretch to fit the screen) or there is missing buttons, text, or other controls after a rotate.
Usually, just rotating the phone to a different orientation and then rotating back fixing things, sometimes you have to exit the app and re-enter, sometimes you have to reboot.
* Some new bugs force a reboot -- I got stuck in Mail when something I did caused the top navigation bar to go away and I couldn't get out of the message view/compose/edit interface and go back to the inbox listing. The only way I could fix this was a hard reboot, BUT that did fix it so it's not a show-stopping bug.
* iPod (music) functionality has some hiccups, often causing music pauses or scratching. Occasionally, but unreproducible for me so far, it'll just switch to a new song altogether, sometimes one you don't even have in your playlist. It's like it gets confused and jumps into shuffling of your whole collection. But that's only happened to me the one time, and I haven't seen it happen again since (I also did a hard reboot after it started happening).
* Still a 9-page limit for the main screens listing apps
* No change to the annoying mechanism for turning wi-fi on/off, changing the delay time to auto-lock, or any of the other buried settings.
* search (spotlight) will search across contact names, but NOT contact data -- so you can't search for "CA" to see everyone you know in California, or "415" to get all the phone numbers that have 415 in them. (So, no reverse search trying to figure out, given a phone number on your last AT&T bill, who it was that you talked to that one time for 3 hours...)
* I see no new mechanism to print (as expected, there was no announcement).
In Summary: Although there are a bunch of great new features, the beta is really buggy and if you are a developer and are debating trying out the 3.0 beta, I strongly recommend you wait.
I have been running the OS 3.0 since Wednesday, and I have not had any major issues. Furthermore, I have not noticed that the system and apps are any less responsive. Perhaps you have a misbehaving app or two? Granted that I have only 3 1/2 pages of apps, but everything I tend to use seems to work well. I love the new landscape view, as well as cut and paste! I also really like the fact that the recent calls, voicemail's, etc. list which phone number was called from (Mobile, Home, Work). For numbers that are not in my address book, it shows the City and State the call originates from. This is really great for me as I have over 3000 contacts. And get many, many calls everyday. Sometimes knowing the City of origin helps me prepare for whom I'm about to speak to.
My MMS does not work either, but I do not have 3G in my area, so I assume that is the reason. I am not very compelled to send photos to others, but my wife is fully stoked at the proposition as I am sure many others are. The search feature will one day be handy, I presume. However, I have not been able to really come up with a good reason to use it yet. My brain defaults to my contact search (which is well used). One day soon, I am sure I will need to find an old e-mail though. That being said, in just playing with it, It seems more responsive and accurate than the spotlight on my desktop. Perhaps because it is searching ONLY mail, contacts, notes.
I also debated thoroughly whether or not to update, as my phone is my lifeline. Further, my current development projects did not have immediate use for the new API's (although I also love playing with them!) However, I had another issue that negated my fears of upgrading. Recently, my phone has started dropping many calls and had an unusual amount of static on 1 out of 3 or so calls. I chalked it up to poor network conditions, but the damn cell tower is within sight of our plant, and I always have full bars. Also other folks here do not have issues with there calls, also on iPhones. I took my phone back to the Apple store to see if I could get it swapped out for another, but my lower liquid indicator had been activated. So, they would not give me a replacement. (BTW, I have NEVER gotten my phone wet. I tend to be over-protective. I have, however, blown on the dock connector to remove dust occasionally. DO NOT DO THIS! if that indicator is pink(ish) Apple will NOT repair your phone). So I was on the verge of purchasing another $599 (sic) iPhone, or waiting until the iPhone 3GG2, or iPhone 3GV2, or iPhone 3. . . . Err whatever they will call it, is released. I tried to restore my phone 3 times, and each time the issue came back. I assumed that it was a hardware issue. At any rate, I had little to loose. Now after 3 full days, my phone is not only perfectly usable, but somehow the static is GONE! I do not know how or why, but it is. I have yet to have a dropped call as well. (I have been unable to answer 2 calls, the slider would not move. This also happened on 2.2.1 for me tho.) All-in-all I am very happy with this being only Beta software. As always, be cautious, your milage may vary.
Comments
Now I've got to work out how to get back to english
Yes. Setting the language to greek definately translates the app names and menus.
Now I've got to work out how to get back to english
Thank you....
Yes. Setting the language to greek definately translates the app names and menus.
Now I've got to work out how to get back to english
I can help you with that!
settings = ρυθμίσεις
International = (possibly) Διεθνής (or something like that)
Languages = Γλώσσες
I doubt that, Bluetooth printing probably requires the device to support the appropriate protocol.
They specifically said standard protocols were supported and custom protocols could be added for bluetooth. I take that to mean that yes, an app could add support for bluetooth printing.
And if that's the case, it will be. If I was a photo-printing manufacturer I'd be scrambling now to have the first iPhone-compatible photo printer. Print straight from your phone, I'd say! (Even though I personally would rarely if ever use this functionality myself.)
You may find it on torrent sites... But beware that installing it on an iPhone that is not registered as a development iPhone on the iPhone Developer Portal will render your iPhone totally useless (because you won't be able to activate it anymore).
As warns:
Hardmac.com : Le "Macbidouille" in English - Do Not Play with iPhone OS 3.0!
Can anyone tell me if you can turn off landscape view when texting? I think I'm about the only person in the world that doesnt want this feature and it will drive me insane!
Your not alone. I often use my iPhone when lying down, which means its on its side when viewing. It annoys me when the phone switches to landscape mode. I too wish I could turn it off.
All the features are great, and i'm really looking forward to this update, but funnily enough, its support for profiles in the YouTube app i'm most looking forward to, lol. The other features I've only ever needed occasionally. Still really looking forward to the update! I wish apple would release a list of all the '100' new features though.
The support for third-party hardware app control is interesting. I've long wanted a cable (though wirelessly through bluetooth would be better) that would allow remote.app to control an ipod classic. The nice easy to use UI of iPhone OS with the capacity of an iPod classic. I can dream.
Your not alone. I often use my iPhone when lying down, which means its on its side when viewing. It annoys me when the phone switches to landscape mode. I too wish I could turn it off.
All the features are great, and i'm really looking forward to this update, but funnily enough, its support for profiles in the YouTube app i'm most looking forward to, lol. The other features I've only ever needed occasionally. Still really looking forward to the update! I wish apple would release a list of all the '100' new features.
I don't understand what you guys are saying here.
I also use my phone when lying in bed. I either use it vertically, or horizontally. What's the problem here?
Thanks in advance!
I don't understand what you guys are saying here.
I also use my phone when lying in bed. I either use it vertically, or horizontally. What's the problem here?
If you read a book in bed, lying on your side, do you stand the book upright or turn it sideways in line with your head & body?
The iPhone doesn't give you a choice, you turn it sideways and it changes the text orientation.
If you read a book in bed, lying on your side, do you stand the book upright or turn it sideways in line with your head & body?
The iPhone doesn't give you a choice, you turn it sideways and it changes the text orientation.
That's interesting. I never read lying on my side. It's either sitting partly up, or lying down, with my hard propped up a bit.
Some book readers allow you to lock in either way, some require an explicit instruction to change the orientation, but I'd have to check all that I have, as I never do that. It is up to the program, rather than the phone.
If you read a book in bed, lying on your side, do you stand the book upright or turn it sideways in line with your head & body?
The iPhone doesn't give you a choice, you turn it sideways and it changes the text orientation.
This is the book reading app's problem not the iPhone. A book reading app could easily provide this option to not change orientation in current iPhone OS.
This is the book reading app's problem not the iPhone. A book reading app could easily provide this option to not change orientation in current iPhone OS.
Not really. Though this is something book readers could (and almost certainly should) provide as a feature, the problem extends to many apps on the iPhone. By the way, some of the book reader apps on the iPhone DO provide this feature (orientation locking) already. But we read and interact in many apps besides book-reading apps. Most of those can be done laying down, and so can fall into the problem of fighting the accelerometer to keep screen layout from switching back and forth on you.
The problem is two-fold:
1. Most apps can and should provide two orientations. There are lots of different reasons, sometimes to provide a different view of data (such as graph when horizontal), sometimes to provide bigger view (I sometimes read websites sideways rather than zooming and swiping back and forth), sometimes to get the wide keyboard. We'll ignore apps that already lock into a single orientation for a given view (whether they should - many games fall in this category - or not).
In addition, most of the time for most mobile phone users, context can and should be used to switch views fluently at customer demand without requiring specific interaction. The visual explanation is: when the customer turns the phone sideways, they want to look at a "sideways" view. The auto-rotation is a beautiful feature.
2. Being a mobile phone, it can be used in all kinds of ways. Including laying down, on a couch or bed or what-have-you, even sideways. This is really the main place that problems come in. It's not so much that auto-rotation is a problem though - more that the person's definition of "horizontal" and "vertical" have changed so much from normal assumptions that they're actually reversed.
I can think of a few theoretical solutions:
A. Apple could provide a "orientation lock" mechanism that could be easily enabled and disabled. Whether it is a shake, a 5-finger gesture, or a switch, there could be a way to say "don't flip the screen on me right now."
B. There could be a "calibration" mode to say "this is what I want to be vertical (or horizontal) for a given session. It would have to be quick and once again easy to trigger, easy to reset.
C. Somehow allow the phone to determine a person's physical orientation (ie how is the phone oriented relative to the user's body rather than to gravity). Maybe some type of video sensor, or even where a person's fingers are placed and pressed on the side of the iPhone body.
D. It's possible that a large portion of the problem cases come from when the phone is near the flat (horizontal) position. Another differently oriented sensor might help with this case? I don't know enough about how the sensors are used specifically on the iPhone to do more than guess here.
All of these seem incredibly difficult to do in a more robust way that doesn't break any of the current interactions, and substantially improves the interactions that aren't currently working well. Like cut-n-paste, this is not as simple of a problem as it might look.
I'm still waiting for iCal to have even half the features that Clarisworks Calendar had back in 1997.
So don't hold your breath.
Apple is is 12 YEARS behind in calendar technology... not good.
Clarisworks didn't have a Calendar. So Apple's iPhone calendar has much more than that.
Are you thinking of Claris Organizer, that later became the Palm desktop software for Mac? I wouldn't say half the features. Palm desktop had categories instead of multiple Calendars, and allowed attachments (basically file and person links), but that's about it. Remember though, that it's a phone application, not a desktop application.
this may have been brought up earlier or somewhere else... but is one of the new features video recording
No, no video features or direct access to camera were announced. Though I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be a feature for the latest hardware iPhone that is expected this summer. At least, I'm personally hoping. Not that I'll need a reason - more memory and faster processors will be enough to get me off my first gen iPhone.
this may have been brought up earlier or somewhere else... but is one of the new features video recording
No, but we have to wait for the new model to arrive this summer. It's quite possible that video is unlocked, but only for the new models.
If so, Apple wouldn't want to state that so early, as sales would plummet. with the economy and stock market the way they are, Apple wouldn't want to see that happen. Not that they're the most talkative anyway.
Your not alone. I often use my iPhone when lying down, which means its on its side when viewing. It annoys me when the phone switches to landscape mode. I too wish I could turn it off.
All the features are great, and i'm really looking forward to this update, but funnily enough, its support for profiles in the YouTube app i'm most looking forward to, lol. The other features I've only ever needed occasionally. Still really looking forward to the update! I wish apple would release a list of all the '100' new features though.
The support for third-party hardware app control is interesting. I've long wanted a cable (though wirelessly through bluetooth would be better) that would allow remote.app to control an ipod classic. The nice easy to use UI of iPhone OS with the capacity of an iPod classic. I can dream.
YouTube already has a mobile website that works great: http://m.youtube.com
I use that instead of the native app. You guys should try it. It even has a cool webclip icon if you add it to your home screen.
I definitely debated long and hard about installing the 3.0 beta OS, as I can't go back to 2.2.x now that it is installed, but I wanted to see the new features first-hand, and also get a feel for what is new and possible for app development and how the new OS would impact one of our existing applications, TaxiFlasher (App Store Link: http://su.sg/cf07)
In short: I'm glad I tested it, I wish I could go back to 2.2.1 now -- it just too buggy for everyday use (and I miss the apps that 3.0beta broke.) BUT, I can still use my phone, and I'm sure new versions of the beta will fix some of the problems. However, I doubt the apps will be fully fixed until after 3.0 is launched.
First, the Pros:
* Cut, Copy, and Paste works great, and works anywhere you can input text, as well as places where large blocks of text are displayed (like in Safari, the web browser). I really like this feature.
(Note: Sadly, it does NOT seem like you can copy and paste calendar events.)
I can't seem to copy images from web pages, but I can save them, and then use the photos app to mail them or attach to contact, etc.
* You can "Edit" a SMS conversation now, to delete specific texts (instead of clear all) and forward specific texts (HUGE!)
* You can now "Share" a contact by emailing (as .vcf) it or sending it via SMS. This is very cool.
* You can now email a note in the Notes app, as well has have them auto-sync inside of Apple's Mail.app MacOS program, which is nice.
* Landscape view and text entry in IM, SMS, and Mail -- this is HUGE for me, having fat fingers I had real issues with the portrait-mode keyboard both in incorrectly pressing keys and in slowdowns from finger/thumb awkwardness. Landscape mode is significantly easier for me, and I can type faster and more accurately as a result.
It also appears that Apple has updated both landscape and portrait keyboards slightly, both in looks and in function, which feels less visually polished (less pretty) but more usable and accurate.
* New features in Apple apps (e.g. Mail, maps, etc...): there are several small, mostly subtle changes that are all generally positive. They are almost all "oh, that's better" instead of a "WOW, that changes everything!".
* Ability to search in Mail, even across IMAP accounts, is HUGE and a major upgrade from the previous mail app. This is critical if you're using an IMAP account and need to reference a long-ago previous email.
* The phone-wide search feature (iPhone spotlight) is GREAT, although I haven't used it since I tested it out. (I think this is because I don't even think to use it, which should change over time). This will help me find apps that I rarely use, contacts quickly, and stuff in notes.
* So far nothing has crashed without an ability to recover, either by re-launching or by freeing up memory or rebooting.
* I really like that I can now encrypt my iPhone backup data from an iTunes sync, BUT, being beta X.0 functionality I don't trust it yet. Might wait for 3.0.1 first.
Now, the cons, of which there are many:
* SIGNIFICANTLY slower across the board. Everything, including other apps, goes MUCH slower, and you can feel it. Sometimes you worry that apps have frozen as they take so much longer. Gets slower the longer you go without a reboot.
* Serious memory leaks. Sometimes you can just use the "FreeMemory" app to clear up space, but often that clears out the memory but it just quickly fills back up, and you still have to do a full hardware reboot. I generally have to do this between each app usage, and have to reboot several times a day. (With 2.2.x I was rebooting 2-4x/day on average, with 3.0beta I'm rebooting 4-16x/day). One time I used FreeMemory, made 22+ MB avail, and within 15 seconds it was back down to less than 10MB and within 30 seconds it was down below 2MB free, all without actually leaving FreeMemory. I repeated the process several times, each with similar results. I ultimately had to hard-reboot to get it to stop. (This is possibly a bug in FreeMemory, but it seemed to work as it did in 2.2.x...)
* App problems across the board. Apps that worked fine in 2.2.x (like WordBook and SkyCoaster3D) have problems in 3.0beta. Sometimes I can fix this by using FreeMemory, sometimes I fix it by rebooting, and sometimes I just can't fix it and it's really annoying. (e.g. WordBook's "search" feature just doesn't work despite many attempts.)
* Rotation bugs abound -- there's lots of places in the apps that in 3.0 have been updated to support landscape mode (mail, SMS, etc...) that do not handle rotation perfectly, and sometimes a rotation will result in a broken view layout (e.g. the display table doesn't stretch to fit the screen) or there is missing buttons, text, or other controls after a rotate.
Usually, just rotating the phone to a different orientation and then rotating back fixing things, sometimes you have to exit the app and re-enter, sometimes you have to reboot.
* Some new bugs force a reboot -- I got stuck in Mail when something I did caused the top navigation bar to go away and I couldn't get out of the message view/compose/edit interface and go back to the inbox listing. The only way I could fix this was a hard reboot, BUT that did fix it so it's not a show-stopping bug.
* iPod (music) functionality has some hiccups, often causing music pauses or scratching. Occasionally, but unreproducible for me so far, it'll just switch to a new song altogether, sometimes one you don't even have in your playlist. It's like it gets confused and jumps into shuffling of your whole collection. But that's only happened to me the one time, and I haven't seen it happen again since (I also did a hard reboot after it started happening).
* Still a 9-page limit for the main screens listing apps
* No change to the annoying mechanism for turning wi-fi on/off, changing the delay time to auto-lock, or any of the other buried settings.
* search (spotlight) will search across contact names, but NOT contact data -- so you can't search for "CA" to see everyone you know in California, or "415" to get all the phone numbers that have 415 in them. (So, no reverse search trying to figure out, given a phone number on your last AT&T bill, who it was that you talked to that one time for 3 hours...)
* I see no new mechanism to print (as expected, there was no announcement).
In Summary: Although there are a bunch of great new features, the beta is really buggy and if you are a developer and are debating trying out the 3.0 beta, I strongly recommend you wait.
Thought I'd write up a quick review of the iPhone OS 3.0 beta that Apple launched on Tuesday.
Thanks for that informative pros/cons summary.
My MMS does not work either, but I do not have 3G in my area, so I assume that is the reason. I am not very compelled to send photos to others, but my wife is fully stoked at the proposition as I am sure many others are. The search feature will one day be handy, I presume. However, I have not been able to really come up with a good reason to use it yet. My brain defaults to my contact search (which is well used). One day soon, I am sure I will need to find an old e-mail though. That being said, in just playing with it, It seems more responsive and accurate than the spotlight on my desktop. Perhaps because it is searching ONLY mail, contacts, notes.
I also debated thoroughly whether or not to update, as my phone is my lifeline. Further, my current development projects did not have immediate use for the new API's (although I also love playing with them!) However, I had another issue that negated my fears of upgrading. Recently, my phone has started dropping many calls and had an unusual amount of static on 1 out of 3 or so calls. I chalked it up to poor network conditions, but the damn cell tower is within sight of our plant, and I always have full bars. Also other folks here do not have issues with there calls, also on iPhones. I took my phone back to the Apple store to see if I could get it swapped out for another, but my lower liquid indicator had been activated. So, they would not give me a replacement. (BTW, I have NEVER gotten my phone wet. I tend to be over-protective. I have, however, blown on the dock connector to remove dust occasionally. DO NOT DO THIS! if that indicator is pink(ish) Apple will NOT repair your phone). So I was on the verge of purchasing another $599 (sic) iPhone, or waiting until the iPhone 3GG2, or iPhone 3GV2, or iPhone 3. . . . Err whatever they will call it, is released. I tried to restore my phone 3 times, and each time the issue came back. I assumed that it was a hardware issue. At any rate, I had little to loose. Now after 3 full days, my phone is not only perfectly usable, but somehow the static is GONE! I do not know how or why, but it is. I have yet to have a dropped call as well. (I have been unable to answer 2 calls, the slider would not move. This also happened on 2.2.1 for me tho.) All-in-all I am very happy with this being only Beta software. As always, be cautious, your milage may vary.
BTW I'm on build 7A238J
Good Luck!