Impressions: iPhone Software 3.0 [Updated]

iPhone Software 3.0 was released yesterday, as I am sure many of you know (since you’ve likely been using it on your iPhone or iPod touch). I thought I’d just quickly jot down some first impressions.

First off, I am a copying & pasting machine! I never realized how much information I’ve wanted to be able to transplant across apps. It certainly makes things a lot easier. Protip: If you have a lot of text you want to delete, rather than holding down the delete key on the keyboard, highlight the text with the cut, copy & paste selector, then just tap delete. Very handy.

I’m also enjoying the landscape keyboard that is now available in Apple’s core apps. This is great for tapping out a semi-lengthy email. Now I only wish Twitterrific supported it.

(And for you Tweetie users, yes, I know Tweetie does Landscape, but it’s an either/or in the settings. I want it to rotate based on the accelerometer’s orientation. Sometimes the compact keyboard is useful, like when you have a child in one arm and you have to type one handed.)

(And I just prefer Twitterrific’s User Interface, but I digress.)

Spotlight search is a dream. Such a super fast way to hop around the phone.

A couple super neat unadvertised features: When viewing a contact, there is now a Share Contact button that will open a new Mail message, and attach a vCard. This is great for trading your “business card.”

Also, Calendar syncing now support calendars from multiple sources. As a MobileMe user, I have enjoyed having my email, calendar, contacts, and bookmarks pushed to and from my device. The sad thing is MobileMe doesn’t support subscription calendars. In iCal on my Mac, I subscribe to a US Holidays calendar, and I also have iCal automatically pull Birthdays from Address Book. In iPhone Software 2.x, if you had MobileMe on, that was it (unless you also had Exchange. Now, in iTunes, I can have my main calendars using MobileMe, but can also select and sync US Holidays and Birthdays from my Mac when I connect the USB cable.

Friends, I should see your birthdays a lot easier now, as I check my calendar mainly from my phone.

So, speaking of MobileMe, there are a couple new features on that front. The coolest is the new Find My iPhone feature. This is live now, and I tested it by hiding my iPhone, then having my wife go and find it. The premise is that if you lose your iPhone, you can just log into MobileMe on the web, and Find My iPhone will track down your iPhone and display its approximate location on an embedded Google map. You can then send a message to the screen of the iPhone like, “I’m lost! Please call my owner at 555-555-5555.” and then phone will beep whether or not it was in silent mode.

If you truly can’t get your phone back, then you can remote wipe the data on it.

The second new MobileMe feature is an iDisk app. This is labeled as Coming Soon. Basically, it will be a free app on the App Store that allows you to view the contents of your iDisk and even send a Share link for a file to a friend or colleague .

That pretty much sums up some of the initial things that have tickled me in the past day with iPhone Software 3.0. What are your fancies? Leave a message in the comments.

Update: Here’s an important change from iPhone 2.x. In iPhone 2.x to force quit an app you had to hold down the home button for 6-8 seconds. Since the iPhone 3G S hardware uses that command for its Voice Control feature, Apple has changed the command to force quit an app on all iPhone OS 3.0 devices. Now, if an app hangs and you need to Force Quit, you have to first hold down the Sleep/Wake Button until you see the red slider, THEN release that button and hold down the Home button for 6-8 seconds to Force Quit an app.

Improving Memory

The other day I upgraded the memory in my unibody MacBook Pro from the stock 2 GB to 4 GB. The kit I selected was the Crucial 4 GB 204-pin PC3-8500 DDR3 1066 MHz. I bought it on Amazon for $58 (the price seems to fluctuate weekly between $55 and $70). This is much cheaper than the $150 Apple wants for a 4 GB upgrade.

The upgrade was drop dead simple. I just had to remove the battery plate, take out 8 screws, and pop the memory in. In fact, the biggest shocker when I opened up my MacBook Pro was that there was a fair amount of dust in the fans. This makes me think I’ll give the internals of my machine a visit every 6 months with the can of compressed air. Another note about the inside of this beast: Wow, it’s gorgeous in there. Geek heaven.

I made a little video for your enjoyment. The music is Audio Adrenaline’s Worldwide:One [iTunes] in honor of this being Worldwide Developer’s Conference week.

(As luck would have it, I shot this a couple days ago using my Canon G9, and two days later my wife gives me a Kodak Zx1 which shoots in high def. Oh well. Next time.)

Upgrading MacBook Pro Memory from Chris De Jabet on Vimeo.

WWDC 2009: A Parade of Awesome!

Three days ago, Apple held the keynote address of its Worldwide Developer’s Conference, and all I have to say is that it was a Parade of Awesome! That’s all I have to say. You can go about your regularly scheduled browsing now. I’m kidding! Of course I have the interesting highlights for you.

I waited to write this until I had time to watch the keynote video, as I prefer to get my source material first-hand, instead regurgitating all the other blogs. Call me old-fashioned.

The first thing that caught my attention was when Phil Schiller, Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, said that the number of active OS X users in 2007 was 25 million people and that number in 2009 is 75 million users. That is a lot of growth. Apple’s doing pretty well.

This post got pretty long, so I’m inserting a jump here for visitors to the main page.

Predictions: WWDC 2009

Apple is hosting its annual World-Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. The company’s Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller, will lead the executive team through the keynote presentation on Monday, June 8th.

Seeing as how that is just under a week away, I figured now would be a good time for me to weigh in on my predictions for what will happen at the keynote.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard & iPhone OS 3.0


Snow Leopard

It is a very safe bet that we will see both Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0 at WWDC. Apple said as much in its WWDC press release.

So far, the general public hasn’t received a great deal of concrete information about Snow Leopard from Apple itself. The things we can expect for sure at this point are a full 64-bit OS; Microsoft Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and Address Book; QuickTime X; “Grand Central” – a technology that will make Mac OS X completely multicore aware; and OpenCL (Open Computing Language), which will allows applications to tap into the GPU for added computing power.

Overall, that’s a lot of geeky under-the-hood stuff that end users won’t explicitly see (but they’ll probably notice their computers become a lot more powerful). Apple said at last year’s WWDC that Snow Leopard wouldn’t introduce any new end-user features (like Exposé in 10.3, Dashboard in 10.4, or QuickLook, Spaces, and Time Machine in 10.5). Instead, Apple is using Snow Leopard to further refine the newest foundations within 10.5 Leopard.

Traditionally, Apple has charged $129 for major OS X versions. I surely know this because I have shelled out for 10.3, 10.4, and 10.5. Without some features that the marketing department can use to flash in end-user’s faces, I don’t know if Apple will be able to sell many people on 10.6. At least, not at $129, especially in this economic climate.

So either Apple will offer it for less, or they will have to add in something that is marketable to the masses. The rumor mill has been purporting that Snow Leopard will introduce an overhauled User Interface code-named “Marble.” This is quite possible, however, I am really liking the current Leopard UI. The only change I would really like to see to the UI is to get rid of the dated Aqua scrollbars and progress bars found in many apps (like Safari). Instead, replace them with the blue-ish grey scrollbars from iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie.

I predict there will be some new UI paint, a surprise feature that Apple just couldn’t resist adding, and that Snow Leopard will sell for $99. We’ll also get a shipping date, my guess is around September.

iPhone OS 3.0

The new and improved iPhone OS will be the key feature of the keynote. Expect to see lots of third-party developer demos to ad nauseam. We’ll also see all the features we saw at the March SDK event, again.

I also think we’ll see some new features of OS 3.0 that will be exclusive to new iPhone hardware, which I will discuss in the next section.

Of course, we’ll get a final ship date on this as well. If I would have written this yesterday I would have guessed the ship date would coincide with the new iPhone hardware release (currently rumored for July 17). But, my mind changed today, and I think we’ll see iPhone OS 3.0 on all current iPhones within a couple of weeks.

Why? iTunes 8.2 was released today. For the past few betas of iPhone OS 3.0, a pre-release version of iTunes 8.2 was required to activate iPhones and iPods touch running the beta firmware. With iTunes 8.2 being in the wild now, and one of the key features listed was compatability with iPhone OS 3.0, I just think Apple is planning to release 3.0 very, very soon.

Also, Apple has been requiring that all apps submitted to the App Store be compatible with 3.0 for weeks now. I imagine this means ,most developers have already submitted, or are planning to very soon, apps that meet that requirement.

Finally, there is the snafu from last year’s iPhone OS 2.0 launch. Talk about a disaster. Last year, in case you don’t remember, Apple released the iPhone 3G, iPhone OS 2.0, the App Store, and MobileMe all on one day. And it was a complete meltdown. Apple rarely makes the same mistake twice.

I think this time around we’ll see iPhone OS 3.0 launch ahead of the new iPhone hardware. And I think we’ll see it within two weeks. Three at the latest.

A New iPhone

I’m not sure anyone doubts that there will be new iPhone hardware soon. The rumor mill has been flipping rampant with spy shots and the like. My thoughts on the matter are that the new iPhone will have come in 16- and 32-GB capacities, at the $199 and $299 price points, respectively. The 8GB model may stick around at a more budget-friendly $149, but I’m pretty skeptical about that.

Also, I think the new iPhone will have the rumored 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, be video-capable, and have a magnometer (digital compass). Also, I think the flavor of iPhone OS 3.0 that comes on these devices will have added functionality in the Camera and Maps apps to leverage these technologies.

It’s likely a safe bet to assume that the device will sport a faster processor and more memory. Furthermore, many of the spy shots have focused on the back casing of the device, showing a plastic matte finish. I’m hoping so, for better grip and resistance to scratches.

Lastly, I have more of a hope than a prediction. On MacBreak Weekly 142, Scott Bourne said he had a couple sources within Verizon, one being high-level within the company, who said that Verizon would be getting an iPhone and that it would be announced in June. Now, AT&T is pretty decent in Lincoln, NE, where I live. But it is currently non-existent in South Dakota, where I’m from. So my iPhone becomes pretty useless as a phone when I visit family. If Verizon were to get the iPhone, I’d be finding a way out of my AT&T contract pretty quickly.

Granted, AT&T has announced they are coming to South Dakota in 2010-2011, but that’s quite some time away. And who knows what kind of coverage they’ll have. Judging from their overall coverage of Nebraska, it doesn’t look great. Outside of Omaha, Lincoln, and their surrounding communities, AT&T is pretty absent from the Cornhusker State.

Verizon’s coverage is nearly ubiquitous in the Midwest, and pretty much everywhere in the contiguous United States. Yes, this would mean Apple would have to make a CDMA iPhone in addition to a GSM iPhone, but I would think the amount of customers they would pick up in the US would make it worth it.So yes, I am really wishing for a Verizon iPhone.

Tablet Device

I think Apple is working on something like an oversized iPod touch to answer the netbook market, but I don’t think we’ll see it on Monday. I honestly think it would get a special media event all to itself.

MacBook Pro/MacBook Speed Bumps

I think we’ll see some speed bumps on the unibody notebooks. However, they’ll either get one slide in the keynote or be relegated to a post-keynote press release.

The Triumphant Return of Steve Jobs

I think Phil Schiller will do a One More Thing™ and that will be to welcome Steve Jobs back from his medical leave. I think Jobs’ stage time will be brief and at the end, but I think he’ll be up there nonetheless.

That’s all I have for predictions and hopes/dreams. We’ll see on June 8th!

If you have any thoughts, please leave them in the comments.

Griffin TuneFlex AUX with SmartClick

TuneFlex SmartClick Video Review from Chris De Jabet on Vimeo.

Remember how I was talking about Griffin Technology's great customer service? Well, I thought it was great when they sent me an iSqueez (discontinued product) as an olive branch because the TuneFlex AUX for iPhone wasn't ready in time for my big trip. Now, the object of my desire is available.

Griffin announced Tuesday the TuneFlex AUX with SmartClick, compatible with the iPhone and iPhone 3G. And I've already acquired one to put through the paces!

I should also note this also works with 2007's and 2008's models of the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod classic. And by works I mean it has adapters to secure them to the dock connection. Earlier models probably work as well, if you have the adapter to keep them properly in place.

The TuneFlex with SmartClick is a nice piece of equipment. It works much like the TuneFlex AUX of 2008, except it has this convenient remote that attaches to your steering wheel. The SmartClick remote controls play/pause, track forward/backward, fast forward/reverse, shuffle songs/albums, and it controls the backlight of your iPod or iPhone.

The TuneFlex with SmartClick performs flawlessly with my iPhone. I am loving the line-out quality to my car stereo. It frees up my cupholders, so both my wife and I will be able to enjoy those on road trips, and that remote is oh-so-handy!

The TuneFlex SmartClick is available now for $79.99.

Griffin Technology, you guys did a great job.

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A note to my readers: I know I've been writing about a lot of Griffin products lately. But I also write about Apple products a lot. I write about beautiful products with exceptional craftsmanship, and I can't help that Griffin makes exceptionally beautiful products that just fit so well with Apple's beautifully exceptional products.

Disclaimer: Griffin did send me the TuneFlex free of charge due to their exceptional customer service. This was not done in exchange for a good review, or even a review at all. I had been planning to purchase it myself, but I was told several different ship dates that were missed, hence their customer service department took it upon themselves to send me one. I just wanted to disclaim this for legal/ethical reasons.