iPhone OS 3.0

Today is a pretty big day for iPhone users (and those iTouch users who are willing to fork over $10). Today, we get an OS upgrade. Unlike our iTouch brothers and sisters, iPhone users will not have to pay for this upgrade.

There are a lot of nice features in this upgrade and I’m looking forward to downloading it once I get home (I neglected to bring my cable with me to work). For additional information on this, there are a wide variety of places you can look on the web. Here is one: http://mashable.com/2009/06/17/iphone-30-guide/

First important note: many of the new features you see as part of the new iPhone 3Gs are actually part of the OS and not just the new phone, so even original iPhone users like me can get these new features.
Second important note: those who upgraded from their original iPhone to a 3G had their phone exchange “subsidized”, meaning, you got the phone for a discounted price. Those same people are going to have to pay a LOT of money to upgrade to the 3Gs, if they want to. Apple explained to me that AT&T is not willing to subsidize a second upgrade. That said, those of us who have never had our iPhone upgrade subsidized can get the 3G for $99 or the 3Gs for their $199 and $299 discounted prices. If you want to know what you can get the new phone for, go to http://www.apple.com/iphone and act as if you are applying for the upgrade. At one point it will tell you what the upgraded equipment will cost, and you will have a chance to quit out without committing.

The big feature in the new OS (not the new phone) for me is the cut, copy, and paste. This has been missing for far too long and I’m glad it’s finally here. It’ll make working on and with the device so much easier.

The other big thing, for people like me who fat-finger things all the time, is that in a few apps the keyboard will go landscape now. This is a big help when trying to type quickly and accurately. It’s hard enough fighting that auto correct. I wish they would reverse the auto correct set up. Now, if you want to accept the change you ignore the pop up and hit the X if you want to skip the suggestion. It should be the other way around, click to accept and ignore to leave unchanged.

They have FINALLY added a universal search. So, instead of having to search through each app separately, you can look for something in universal search, which they call Spotlight, just like on the regular Mac OS. You can also customize what comes up in search and what order they come up in.

It looks as if I’ll finally be able to synch my Google calendar with my iCal. There were sketchy details so I’ll have to give it a try. It’ll be nice not to have to hit the web to see my schedule, especially when I am in one of wonderful AT&T’s “dark” areas or when I don’t want to wait for the slowed down 2G network. (Yes, I will be upgrading to the 3Gs soon).

Don’t like what you’re listening to – no worry, give your phone a good shake it will shuffle things up.

Lastly, for those who have MobileMe service, you will be able to locate your phone via MobileMe (using the GPS feature), you can also send your phone messages, or in a worst case scenario, you will be able to send a remote wipe command and clean the unit completely.

Check up the update. If you feel so inclined, feel free to share you iPhone, iTouch, 2G, 3G, or 3Gs stories below.