My iPhone 3.0 Reaction
Well the announcement has come and gone and for the first time in a long time I am genuinely excited about the announcements Apple made today. Yes, I agree that most (if not all) of these features should have been included in the original iPhone but the fact is they weren't and at least Apple is including them now as a Free Upgrade (Unless of course your an iPod touch owner and then it's $9.95)
So here are some of the features to be included and my 2 cents:
•MMS - I've heard some people say that this is a feature that has been replaced by email but I disagree. True if your sending to another person that has an iPhone you could do that but contrary to what you might see not everyone has an iPhone and therefore doesn't have email on their phone.
•Cut, Copy, Paste - Happy to see this is coming but to be honest I have done just fine without it to this point. However once it shows up I will probably be thinking "how did I ever live without this?"
•Select Multiple Photos - This could come in handy especially with my new blogging tool, Posterous.
•Push Notifications - If it really happens (and works properly) this time I will be shocked. It's not as great as running background apps (For instance Satellite Radio while doing anything else) but it will help with battery life which the phone always needs.
•Spotlight for iPhone - This will search your phone for Contacts, Mail, Notes and Applications. It will even search mail on the server. Very Cool! Plus the new home screen implementation of search will be awesome as well.
•Tethering - A non starter for me because even if AT&T allows it, it will cost an arm and a leg to use. No thanks!
•Landscape Keyboard - For the longest time I wanted this feature but over time I have become accustomed and quite speedy on the other keyboard and I find now when I use landscape in some apps like Tweetie I misspell more words. I am sure I will readjust to it.
•New Calendar Support - This will be nice because I use some subscription calendars for sports team schedules as well as Facebook birthdays.
•Stock App Improvement - Yawn.
•Bluetooth Audio - Could be cool but I don't have any devices that support it so no biggie right now. Leo Laporte says if you snowboard and have a helmet that supports it than you would be loving this feature. Hmmm. Not much snowboarding in Hawaii or in the Pacific.
•Notes Synching - This is long overdue and a welcome feature for me
•Voice Memo - Ok, I get this with Evernote but it is cool that you will be able to send them via MMS
•P2P - This will allow you to connect to another single iPhone in Bluetooth range for gaming. Could be cool for file transfers, contact info, etc.
•Turn by Turn directions - Ok but I like my Garmin just fine.
•Google Maps inside Native Apps - This could make any core location based program that much more awesome.
Well that's most of the features that have been made public but since access to the SDK started today I am sure we will start to hear more and more potential features leading up to "this summer." Speaking of this summer I am a little weary of that timeline. I would have liked to have heard a more solid date or at least a month they have in mind for this release. No matter when it comes out, it will be a much needed, much appreciated release for the majority of people.
