Review: (Complete) Iphone O.S: 3.0 - G.M.V

[moneoa]

With only a short time away until Apple releases their 3.0 Firmware to the masses, this reviewer
Has had a chance over the past week to put the new firmware through some real world use and what
now follows is a breakdown of the new features (with screenshots)


After the article if you just cannot wait till midnight tonight pst. I will include instructions on how to load
The new firmware if you are enterprising enough to find it on BT. Also be advised that since this is not the new iPhone itself that some of the advertised features such as Video recording and Voice dial are not available for review.

1) New Voice App

As you can see there are some minor changes to the layout of the home screen, most noticeable is the “Voice Memo’s” Application which allows you to record sound bytes and then send them as MMS or it will sync them to your itunes for later use.
(handy if you are one who needs reminders)

Click on the speaker on the lower left hand side to bring up the recordings and options

Also as you can see the SMS icon has been replaced with a “Messages” Icon to reflect the fact it is now mms enabled

Personally I find the Voice feature is a novel addition for myself as I don’t take many notes on the go but I can see it being useful for business users who need to make a quick dictation. The real golden feature that comes with this is the voice activated controls that I want to try myself, however the 3G does not have this feature enabled so this is one feature I cannot try out just yet.

2) M.M.S - Send and Receive
Picture this….you are a sophisticated suave thing that brags to be something the other kids are not. Then when it’s your time to shine you try to message a friend a picture and you find that your too retarded too. Meanwhile your ghetto friend Moto can do it with ease.

Without a doubt one feature that didn’t make it into the iPhone that baffled some was the simple ability to MMS, a common feature on most phones today.

This has been remedied in this new edition and as promised you can text and mail in landscape mode as shown here


It sends pictures in nice shiny little preview windows and if you click on the small camera icon to the left as pictured above you will get this menu that will allow you to take a photo or choose one you already have

and here is the mms and options directly from the camera roll when looking at a picture

The new options are intuitive and just added on to the old menu system so there is no real need to re learn anything to take advantage of this new feature

3) Cut and Paste
Another welcome addition to the iphone is the ability to cut and paste

Tap on a word and hold for a second and the cut and paste menu will pop up. As you can see a box highlights the selected text and you can pinch the little blue dots and adjust accordingly.

Then you can go into mail or notes and again, hold down the menu pops up and you then just paste

This function will work across every app and will also copy web images though it will not past them into the notes application

4) Expanded Bluetooth Support
The new software now allows for Stereo Bluetooth
(tested with Motorola S9 Stereo Earphones)

When the headset is connected to the phone itself and you are in the ipod you will see the audio device listed on the bottom in place of the volume

If you click on the little Bluetooth icon on the lower right hand side you will get an option to play audio back through the headset or native speakers

Volume control itself is transferred to the bluetooth device currently used for playback.

Also advertised is the ability to transfer Vcards and have some sort of p2p connection with other iphones but again this is a feature I was unable to test before writing this

Itunes and Appstore, Final items
Also with this update is expanded itunes support that allow for multiple accounts on one phone or ipod

Additionally you can also redeem itunes gift cards directly from your phone on both app store and itunes


Another worthy mention inspired by OS X is the search function which will search for your query throughout the entire phone (apps and all)Accessed by swiping your finger to the right on your home screen

Other mentions I am unable to review on my hardware include the built in accelerometer and voice directions as well as video recording and editing.

Above all if you have an iPhone and want it to finally have the core functions that really do make it a complete (finally) and easy to use smartphone then this update is for you and you dont need to go spend another 400 dollars for the new hardware unless you want a built in compass and some added voice support.

The one negative I came across is that at times when switching apps the phone lags just a bit but this may just be exclusive to my handset, please come back here in the next few days and give your impressions of the new software

If you dont have an iphone and your considering buying the new ones out this week then consider while it is not perfect it does what it does well and with the added features and whistles it can now step up and match its competitors.

Ipod touch users will also benefit from all the features with exception to MMS and the accelerometer.

If you are unable to wait until Midnight tonight
The Firmware is available via BT though for legal reasons I can't really post the filename, it is approximately 235,000 MB. For Windows Users hold down Shift and click on update in iTunes and it will then allow you to select the firmware file downloaded.

For Mac users hold down the control button while clicking update (not entirely sure if its called the control button, can a mac user correct me?)

Be careful as there are seperate files for the 2g Iphone and the 3g and the ipod touch, only use the firmware labelled for your SPECIFIC device

Once more feel free to come back and also let us know your thoughts when you break it out

Apple IPhone 3GS
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3g-s/

Iphone 3.0
http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/

[mfgbypooter]

thank you.

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[moneoa]

Just added a bit more to the bottom if you hit refresh
sorry for being late guys Ive been jobhunting and doing interviews :)

(one of the reasons I had time to play with it lol)
I mean the iphone pooter

[El Comandante]

The activation/upgrade process turned out to be a colossal pain the the balls. I kept on getting 1604 errors when restoring the phone. I had to re-set and re-install my USB drivers and re-install itunes. Then Apple's servers were overloaded. In the meantime my phone would not work after the restoration process started and failed so I had an inactive phone for 1/2 the day. (sigh)

It's finally all done. It looks good.

[Jorge]

Just updated my software!

[mfgbypooter]

Sure wish I could find a vertical holster that will work with my ifrogz luxe case thats on my new phone.



and this fucker looks cool with the new mirrored screen protector too.

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