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Our Favorite iPhone 3.0 Features So Far

Submitted by Michael Johnston on June 20, 2009 - 6:56pm.
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It's been a few days since iPhone 3.0 was released to the public and there's a lot of stuff in there! We've been playing with the software for quite some time and decided to compile a list of our favorite new features. Some of these are very high profile features, but we're hoping that we'll be able to point out a few things you haven't discovered yet. Read on for the big list!

In no particular order...

New iTunes Features - Movies, TV Shows, Audiobooks
The iPhone's iTunes app has gotten quite an update in 3.0. Now you can check out all the movies, TV shows, and audiobooks available on the iTunes Store right from your phone. TV shows, audio books, and movies can be purchased and movies can be previewed and rented. Awesome!


Call history details
Call history on the iPhone has been fairly simple in the past, but it never gave much detail on individual call entries. Now by tapping on a recent call's blue arrow you can view incoming and outgoing calls, their individual times, and even durations!

SMS editing and forwarding
In addition to MMS (on supported carriers), the Messaging app, formally called "SMS," now has the ability to delete and forward individual messages. Simply tap "Edit" in a chat to select individual messages and then have your way with them using the "Forward" or "Delete" options!

Spotlight search and in-app search
This one is huge. From within Notes, Mail, iPod, and the Phone app you can search for each app's content. If you want to search through your entire iPhone, flick to the left of the Home screen to bring up Spotlight. This'll show you apps, and content from the Phone, Mail, Notes, Calendar, and even the iPod!


Push notifications
This feature has been highly anticipated since WWDC 2008. Finally making its way into iPhone 3.0, push notifications allow closed apps to send notifications of new content, messages, or just about anything else. They look just like SMS messages and are perfect for chat and news apps!

Find My iPhone
Find My iPhone allows you to locate a lost or stolen phone using the Mobile Me website. Once activated, you can find your phone just about anywhere, a la Google Maps. If you realize it's at home, you can tell your phone to start beeping. You can even send a message to the phone, showing anybody who has it that you're looking for it.


Cut, Copy & Paste
This is a no-brainer. Cut, Copy & Paste is here, and it so rocks! Just tap and hold as you would to bring up the magnifying loop and a cut, copy, paste bubble will show up. To paste, use the same action.

The awesome part about copy & paste on the iPhone is that you can even copy formatting and images from web pages. When you paste that stuff into an email or a note, the formatting is retained. Awesome!



Select multiple photos for email, deletion, etc
Finally! You can now select multiple photos at a time, drop them into an email, and send them off. You can even copy photos and paste them to any app that supports photos. You can also use multi-select to delete multiple photos at once.

Notes sync
Once you activate this feature, every one of your iPhone's notes is synced right into Mail.app. It's a little odd if you don't regularly use Mail, but at least it works!

Voice Memos
This new app does one thing, but it does it well. Voice Memos, as you might guess, lets you record voice memos! The interface is great, and because it's an Apple application, it can record even if you're not in the app. It's perfect for recording lectures, meetings, and notes to self.

Other random features
  • Safari Auto-Fill - Now when you enter login info into Safari, it can save it for next time!
  • Shake to undo - To undo a typing mistake, shake your phone to undo and redo!
  • Shake To Shuffle - While in the iPod with music playing, shake your phone to shuffle the songs!
  • Stereo Bluetotoh - Now you can listen to music wirelessly with Bluetooth headphones.

If you have a favorite feature you'd like to share, tell everyone in the comments!
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Faster

Submitted by rcotton on June 20, 2009 - 8:32pm.
Is it just me, or does everything on 3.0 seem to be quicker than before on the 3g iPhone

Submitted by foamysking on June 20, 2009 - 9:07pm.
dont forget all the podcast enhancements like 30sec skip back, adjustable scrubbing, and 2x speed

landscape email/keyboard

Submitted by terrapin on June 20, 2009 - 9:37pm.
I really like the landscape view in email and the expanded keyboard.

Submitted by Stephen007 on June 20, 2009 - 10:34pm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by terrapin View Post
I really like the landscape view in email and the expanded keyboard.
I didn't think this would be a big deal, but wow, the landscape email is so much easier to use.

Submitted by thuggedout on June 20, 2009 - 10:52pm.
Yeah I using the First Generation Iphone and I do notice that the it seems to be respond faster and opens applications faster. I like the search function in the ipod and copy paste. I'm very happy with the 3.0 update.

Submitted by JFrappuccino on June 20, 2009 - 11:39pm.
The 3GS Now sports a new screen, OLED, correct?
I seem to notice the colors being much more pleasant to the eye.
As well as the processor being quicker.
Go to Settings>general>accessibility and there is an option that says white on black, toggling this feature changes all of the colors of the iPhone screen to negative, awesome some might sAy.

Submitted by terrapin on June 20, 2009 - 11:55pm.
[quote=JFrappuccino;40487]The 3GS Now sports a new screen, OLED, correct?
I seem to notice the colors being much more pleasant to the eye.



Nope it appears to be the same as teh 3g but with a different connector,

http://digg.com/apple/New_iPhone_3GS...an_OLED_Screen

http://www.zunehd.com/2009/06/no-ole...he-iphone-3gs/

http://www.gethightech.com/Merchant2...n-as-iPhone-3G

help!!

Submitted by cookieboy on June 21, 2009 - 12:21am.
how can i activate my push notifications in beejive app??...is not working in my iphone!!...tnx.

Submitted by imagine engine on June 21, 2009 - 12:55am.
I noticed the SMS screenshot shows you using emoji icons. Was this with the default install of firmware 3.0 or after a jailbreak. I've been unable to find a way to enable emoji icons in the SMS app on 3.0 without installing a third party app.

Submitted by Zak Reiter on June 21, 2009 - 1:25am.
i think my favourite addition is how you can stop your music, lock the iPhone, and when you turn the screen back on the album cover is still there.


I really really like that. [=

Submitted by kevlar on June 21, 2009 - 6:09am.
My favourite new feature is the MMS, I've waited so long for that. My least favourite new ' feature ' is the extremely flakey wifi reception!

Why didn't Spotlight use landscape keyboard?

Submitted by billfarmer on June 21, 2009 - 10:18am.
Here it is, a brand new app in version 3.0 and in 3.0, we get landscape keyboard in 'almost' all Apple applications. Why not in Spotlight I wonder. You do nothing but key characters, scroll and select in this application. Why not a landscape keyboard? Any ideas?

Submitted by foamysking on June 21, 2009 - 10:30am.
mb because it would require rotating the whole home screen? but even if it didnt the transition to the home screen from spotlight would not feel right its just not the way apple does the os

Submitted by Beast on June 21, 2009 - 10:39am.
So... I'm using the 3G S: I'd completely forgotten about voice control until today. I love it!

I also noticed that "Nike+ iPod" doesn't need the receiver, only the sensor. Is this specific to the 3G S or is it a 3.0 feature? (You have to enable it in settings.) This is a very cool feature.

Submitted by foamysking on June 21, 2009 - 10:43am.
its only in the 3gs

3.0 wifi

Submitted by keiths on June 22, 2009 - 11:54am.
Yeah, speaking of flaky wifi reception...anyone else notice this on any generation of iPhone handset? My new 3G S barely gets one bar from my router at home, and my old 3G that I sold to a friend is experiencing the same thing since she upgraded it to 3.0. Sounds like they lowered the wifi power to save battery life, but this ain't gonna work in my opinion.

vioce

Submitted by tre flip on June 22, 2009 - 12:57pm.
I like the voice app hepls me at work. I dont have to go in pocket evry 10 min to change a song.

Submitted by kevlar on June 22, 2009 - 1:49pm.
yeah, definately something wrong with wifi in 3.0, I've installed it on my old 3g, my wifes 1st gen touch and I have a 3gs and wifi is all over the place. Wifi was previously rock solid throughout my house now I can get anything from full 3 bars to nothing and thats 3 feet away from my router!

New Features

Submitted by pgrosby on June 22, 2009 - 1:51pm.
Where in the world is the "Select All" feature in the Inboxes for Mail? Why hasn't anyone at Apple realized the need for this? They have put it in the Trash, but to get the messages to the trash you have to do it one by one. Better yet, besides a "Select All" , an option to swipe across several messages at once, lets say 8 or 10, and delete them as a batch would be great. I get about 300 mails a day and I don't want to be clicking on each to delete them. I would love to switch over to an IPhone, but that one obstacle keeps me using my Treo Centro which handles e-mail like a charm. Doesn't have 3G, but the easy e-mail outweighs that. Please Apple, listen and do something about it.

Battery Percentage Indicator!

Submitted by eof_hack on June 22, 2009 - 4:38pm.
Only the iPhone 3G S has the battery percentage indicator. You can get to it by going to settings/usage/ It is off by default. I happened to stumble upon it. Love this feature.

find my phone bug -- beware!

Submitted by James Blond on June 22, 2009 - 11:58pm.
So when I set up Mobile Me on my Iphone to be able to use the Find my Phone feature (since I am always lookin fer the dam thing), it wanted to add the mail, contacts and calendars data for the Mobile Me account. I don't use that email address, and I have my contacts and calendars already on the phone (they're the same ones synched on MobileMe, anyway -- isn't that the point of MM, der?) , so when it said, hey, do you want to MERGE your contacts on Mobile Me with the ones on the iPhone, I thought No no no please don't do that. NO. Again, No! No Merge!

WRONG ANSWER.

I now have two of every contact on my iphone, and have no idea how to get them all off with hitting restore and starting from scratch.

Anyone?

Submitted by southbxinclt on June 23, 2009 - 12:19am.
Has anyone else noticed that in the contacts when adding a new number or even editing an existing number, when you go to select the type of number, ie; home, mobile, fax, main, etc.. there is now "Iphone" I also noticed that since I have my work email on my phone it also has my "company global address list" this is definately new to me because I never sync'd my work contacts with my iphone, great feature in my opinion

Submitted by Beast on June 23, 2009 - 12:35am.
Quote:
Originally Posted by James Blond View Post
So when I set up Mobile Me on my Iphone to be able to use the Find my Phone feature (since I am always lookin fer the dam thing), it wanted to add the mail, contacts and calendars data for the Mobile Me account. I don't use that email address, and I have my contacts and calendars already on the phone (they're the same ones synched on MobileMe, anyway -- isn't that the point of MM, der?) , so when it said, hey, do you want to MERGE your contacts on Mobile Me with the ones on the iPhone, I thought No no no please don't do that. NO. Again, No! No Merge!

WRONG ANSWER.

I now have two of every contact on my iphone, and have no idea how to get them all off with hitting restore and starting from scratch.

Anyone?
Back up your iPhone in iTunes.


You need to go into the Mobile Me settings in your System Preferences in your computer.

Click "Sync"

Click "Advanced"

Click "Reset Sync Data"
It will ask you if you want to go from your computer to Mobile Me or Mobile Me to you computer. You want "On Mobile Me with sync info from this computer".

Plug in your iPhone. In iTunes, go to "Info" uncheck the sync boxes.
Sync your iPhone.

In your mail settings on your iPhone under the account you don't use (Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>yourname@me.com), respectively turn each setting to "Off". It will ask you if you want to "Delete from My iPhone" or "Keep..." Click on "Delete From My iPhone".
Turn each one back On. Once more, you want to delete what is on your iPhone. Don't worry, Mobile Me will put it back on.

That should do the trick!

yes

Submitted by James Blond on June 23, 2009 - 10:35am.
YES, this did the trick. Praise be to Allah and many thanks to you.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Beast View Post
Back up your iPhone in iTunes.

You need to go into the Mobile Me settings in your System Preferences in your computer.

Click "Sync"

Click "Advanced"

Click "Reset Sync Data"
It will ask you if you want to go from your computer to Mobile Me or Mobile Me to you computer. You want "On Mobile Me with sync info from this computer".

Plug in your iPhone. In iTunes, go to "Info" uncheck the sync boxes.
Sync your iPhone.

In your mail settings on your iPhone under the account you don't use (Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>yourname@me.com), respectively turn each setting to "Off". It will ask you if you want to "Delete from My iPhone" or "Keep..." Click on "Delete From My iPhone".
Turn each one back On. Once more, you want to delete what is on your iPhone. Don't worry, Mobile Me will put it back on.

That should do the trick!