Review: The New iPhone 3.0 Software Is a Must-Have Upgrade
11:59 pm, June 16th, 2009, Leander Kahney
It may take Microsoft three tries to get things right, but the same is also sometimes true of Apple.
The iPhone 3.0 OS — a free update available on Wednesday for all iPhone owners — is a good example. Finally the iPhone has several must-have features it previously lacked, especially tethering, making the 3.0 software an essential upgrade.
But the real pleasure is in the details. The 3.0 software includes a bunch of tweaks and small improvements that makes the iPhone experience extremely slick and polished. It seems silly, but I got as big a kick out of UI tweaks in the iPod interface as show-stoppers like cut-and-paste.
Still, overall, the iPhone 3.0 OS turns the iPhone from a nifty gadget into a real computing device. The iPhone is now truly a pocket Mac for the twenty-first century.
I’ve been playing with a pre-release version of the iPhone OS for a few days, though the build is exactly the same as the one available Wednesday.
We tested a bunch of features, including tethering — a really killer feature that AT&T won’t officially support until later this summer — but can be enabled now via a hack. (Likewise MMS. It can be enabled, but we didn’t have a chance to test it.)
Tethering
Tethering was dead easy to set up. Simply turn it on in Settings>General>Network>Internet Tethering.
Then as soon as you plug the iPhone into your computer, the machine detects a new network interface, which you enable in System Preferences. Hit “Apply,” and the computer can now use the iPhone’s data connection.
In my tests, the connection speed wobbled from passable to painfully slow, but that has more to do with AT&T’s piss-poor network in my part of town. Others report surprisingly fast tethering speeds.
Still, it was fast enough to work with, and I’m very grateful for the freedom. No more overpriced hotel Internet charges for me, although I will be paying AT&T overpriced fees for the feature.
Cut, Copy and Paste
Cut, copy and paste is surprisingly very easy to use. I did zero research how to use it before just jabbing my finger at some words on the screen. Low and behold, up came the cut/paste dialog when I held on a word, allowing me to select a block of text by sliding a pair of markers to the beginning and end of the text I wanted. Switch applications, and the paste dialog comes up when you double tap in an empty space. Cutting and pasting pictures is just as easy.
Apple was right to delay cut/paste until it got it right, I guess. And it did get it right. It couldn’t be easier, especially “select all.”
The best thing? Shake to undo — a small and insignificant thing, but one those little touches that make 3.0 a real joy to use.
Landscape Keyboard
I’ve been waiting two years for the landscape keyboard in email, and now thank Zarg it’s finally here. Writing is so much easier with the wider keyboard. And it now works across all writing apps — notes, SMS and Safari.
Universal Search and Voice Memos
Features like Universal Search and the new Voice Memo app work as advertised. On the Home Screen, slide the screen all the way to the right and universal search pops up, allowing you to search across apps, email, notes, songs, videos, and so on. I’ve yet to find a real use for this — quickly finding email, I suppose — but it works fast and appears to find everything appropriate to the search.
The Voice Memo App is also nicely implemented and works well. Hit the Record button and yack away. But like search, I’ve not yet discovered a good use for it. Maybe email myself a little reminder when driving the car and can’t tap out an email.
The Little Touches
Here’s that little UI tweak I mentioned earlier — a little glowing spot when you scrub through a long track on the iPod. It’s so much more polished than the plain dot and bar.
Likewise, I really enjoy the shake to shuffle. Don’t like what’s playing? Just shake the iPhone to shuffle another random track.
Autofill for usernames and passwords in Safari is another small but useful and time saving feature. Filling out forms on the iPhone is a royal pain, now made a little less painful.
Why You Should Upgrade
The iPhone 3.0 OS is an incremental but important update. Many of the iPhone’s previous pain points have been eliminated, and the many small tweaks make the familiar iPhone experience just that bit more pleasurable.
It all adds up to a full-featured operating system that makes the iPhone a truly capable computing device. I wrote half of this review on it (and would have posted the entire review if I could have easily uploaded the screenshots). Just wait until developers start to roll out their new software apps.
Score: Nine out of ten black turtlenecks.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Reviews, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch | Comment on this article
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Great … so Where the F is the upgrade … not on Apple.com.
joe weiss, on June 17th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Apple iPhone 3.0 OS: What’s the release time
MARCUS, on June 17th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Safari rendering is also MASSIVELY improved.
1) Most websites can now be stopped mid-render without going to a blank page (like on 2.x, a huge PITA!)
2) Rendering pages, especially complex ones with javascript is at least 2X faster on 3.0 compared side-by-side with a 2.X iPhone 3G. Also complex pages no longer crash Safari.
3) Copy/paste in Safari is well implemented. While copy/paste is implemented system wide, the big quesiton was how will copy paste be implemented in Safari with all the gestures it already uses. It was a long wait, but it seems to be worth it as this is probably the best copy/paste system I could have hoped for given the limitations of the touch interface. It is certainly a better system than that used by the Palm Pre and Blackberries. A pen interface is still better for copy/paste, but the iPhone touch interface does copy pasts just right and it really sines in Safari.
Some other notes…
-Notes now sync via USB (but not MobileMe)
-The 10 mb limit for podcast downloads still exists despite the ability to download movies. WHY? This is so irritating that you cannot download a 30 minutes podcast over 3G (~15 mb).
-Many other small, but nice improvements across the board.
-minor, but noticeable improvement in battery life when using 3G data.
martini, on June 17th, 2009 at 1:47 am
I wish the universal search had an option to take your search to google. It’s so quick to get to it by swiping or clicking the home button a couple of times.
theguycalledtom, on June 17th, 2009 at 1:57 am
No mention of the new app ‘push’ feature?
Ed, on June 17th, 2009 at 3:45 am
Does tethering work both ways? My office has horrible reception and the Wifi requires is locked out for none signatured devices, so I was wondering if I could Bluetooth tether the other way to share internet connection?
Jeremy Burke, on June 17th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Ok. Its the 17th and I went to the apple site and I didnt see where I can get the download to upgrade? can you provide the link?
Mike O, on June 17th, 2009 at 6:13 am
It’s 6:21 am, Wednesday, June 17th and, at least in my iTunes, when I check for iPhone updates, it says my version 2.2.1 is the current version and I’m up to date.
scott, on June 17th, 2009 at 6:22 am
As of 14:00 GMT on July 17th, no 3.0 upgrade available on iTunes in the UK
wongiranger, on June 17th, 2009 at 6:24 am
“It may take Microsoft three tries to get things right, but the same is also sometimes true of Apple. The iPhone 3.0 OS  a free update available on Wednesday for all iPhone owners  is a good example.”
Striving to be unbiased is good. But suggesting that Apple didn’t get it right with the iPhone OS until the third try is ridiculous. From its initial release, the iPhone OS blew the competition away. If that’s not getting it right on try one, what is?
Joseph, on June 17th, 2009 at 6:45 am
In autralia is already 18/06 and the new software didn’t show up in my itunes yet, does somebody know why?
Pedro, on June 17th, 2009 at 7:25 am
I want! I want! Alas, the software update isn’t live yet. Drats.
thelottery, on June 17th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Awesome! Downloading it now as speak in Toronto, ON Canada!
Brock, on June 17th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Trying to download it, but the damn thing keeps stopping mid-way and saying the connection timed out. SOOO frustrating. Anyone know what to do?
Laura, on June 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am
As nice and shiny as 3.0 is … and I do think it’s a major improvement, there is another hidden Gem …. SMS FORWARDING is here …. Woooo Hooooo !!
now all I need is to be able to send files/pics/sounds etc via bluetooth.
joe weiss, on June 17th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I disagree. For me being an ipod touch user, I have no desire to pay another $10 for an upgrade where the only thing I will use is the landscape keyboard. I don’t even email from it all that much.
AT, on June 17th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Tethering option isn’t there, bah. Time to figure out how to hack it
Crag, on June 17th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] Leander Kahney (Cult of Mac). [...]
5Words for June 17th, 2009 | Technologizer, on June 17th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
If nothing else, copy and paste is definitely worth the upgrade.
Joshua Parker, on June 17th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
In Settings > Messages, there is a new on/off option for ‘Show Preview’ – this means it is possible to no longer shows your message on the screen before you open it. Top banana!
Mark, on June 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Here’s the link http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/
You basically hav eto plug in you iPhone to your computer and it will tell you to upgrade. You will first need to upgrade to the latest version of iTunes (8.2)
I went on and could not wait to have it done. Unfortunately the download center announced to be overloaded. Will try again tonight. It did manage to upgrade Safari. I still have to get used to the changes but it will no doubt be an improvement. For more on the latest Apple products: https://www.usunlocked.com/blog/?p=247
Linda Hemerik, on June 17th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
What a LEMON – iPhone 3.0 downgrade
The bad news is that the hyped download started at all. It would have been better had it not happened at all. Like so many, the useless voice memo app pushed all the other apps onto different pages. Equally, follow-on pages are full of blanks. Which bright spark decided to put the memo pad on page one?
3.0 is more like putting a child in a sweet shop and saying NO! So it has an updated Bluetooth, oh please! What’s the point? More to the point what are Apple afraid of by not using defacto standard Bluetooth for mobiles. I guess the good news is the CABLE from the phone does work (please note I said CABLE a piece of wire to make a data transfer connection) which means when I take a photo at least I can grab it with my PC and use my PC to share it via Bluetooth. However, that doesn’t generate revenue for Telcos does it – oh some good news is the Skype app still works.
I was really expecting something from 3.0, industry norms from Apple, but what I got was a messed up layout, the stupid assumption that I have Outlook (which should have been buried at birth) and more things that don’t work. Oh well, at least AudioBoo ( cool app ) is still fine and can be connected to my PC, via the line in cable I made, to record audio blogs.
I really wanted to be excited by 3.0, the only thing that made my blood boil was Apple continuing to think that they know best. Maybe someone should send me an MP3, oh sorry that should be Quicktime NOT, of the Apple brainwashing hymn, and then maybe I’ll start to understand why my partners Nokia can do more than my iPhone and be happy about that.
Eric Wiltsher, on June 18th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I’m wondering how/where the tethering stuff is – it’s not in the update like the pictures above show … is there a newest/latest way to hack this into the phone?
perkiset, on June 18th, 2009 at 9:48 am
@Eric Wiltsher: your partner is one lucky guy to have a piece of work like you to come home to every night. Thanks for sharing your whine.
Doug, on June 18th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Eric Wiltsher
I believe you are the definition of an asshole heh?
Ron, on June 19th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Ummm. I love iPhone and the upgrade is great but it was a pain in the butt to do. IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS XP YOU WILL HAVE A PROBLEM GETTING THIS UPGRADE. something to do with registry edititor. You need apple support to guide u through, but it is possible it just takes 5 hours. ( for me anyway) but it’s worth it. The tethering they told me is a feature only the new phone has. Bummer.
And for thos of you who don’t know how to do the upgrade. You have to go to apple then downloads then update to the new iTunes 8.2 then connect ur phone and check for updates and it will automatically install. Hope I coud help someone out. Good luck.
Yana Dee, on June 21st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
[...] Am Mittwoch war es endlich soweit, Apple veröffentlichte die langerwartet 3.0 Firmware. In diesem Update gab es einiges zu bewundern: Copy&Paste (endlich!), globale Suche, Landscape-Tastatur für Mail und Notes, Stimmaufnahme und Tethering (noch nicht unterstützt von T-Mobile). Aber natürlich wird bei Apple auf die Details geachtet: Wenn ein Link in Safari länger gedrückt wird, poppt nun ein Auswahlmenü aus (Öffnen, auf neuer Seite Öffnen, Kopieren), in Podcasts und Audiobooks kann man nun 30 Sekunden zurückspringen (Endlich!) und der Doppelklick des Home-Buttons kann nun verschieden belegt werden (Suchen, Home, Telefon-Favoriten, iPod). Die ersten Erfahrungsberichte bestätigen zusätzlich eine generell höhere Performance. Alles in allem, also ein gelungenes Update! (via macrumors, fscklog und CultOfMac) [...]
iPhone 3GS, iPhone OS 3.0, Steve Jobs neue Leber | macophilia - Mac, iPod, iPhone und alles andere von Apple, on June 21st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I like it so much I have upgraded it on my 3G!! Thanks for the review
jazzyl, on June 27th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
i can do all this with my jailbroken iPhone…
iPorked your mom, on June 30th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I have it
it’s great
but
it has some problem withe WiFi
wendy, on June 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm