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Print 24 comment(s) - last by Ryanman.. on Apr 6 at 11:29 AM

The new iPhone OS v3.0 has raised the number of homescreens to 11, as seen here, raising the allowed app total to 180 programs.  (Source: Apple Insider)

A mysterious option for App Store Preferences has also been added to the Settings menu.  (Source: Neowin.net)
Details flesh out about Apple's new mobile OS

When Apple announced version 3.0 of its iPhone/iPod Touch OS, it lit up the blogosphere.  What capabilities did the new OS bring?  Might it accompany a new hardware release?

Ultimately, the announcement was just a hint at what the new OS might actually look like or what features it might have.  New APIs were thoroughly discussed, but various subtleties were passed over, for obvious reason.

Now more information on the new OS is finally landing.  Apple released the first beta of the OS to iPhone and iPod Touch developers a couple weeks ago.  Now the second beta has landed, bringing speed and stability improvements.

One big change to the interface in the second beta is the inclusion of more homescreens.  The current iPhone OS has 9 home screens, each containing 16 applications.  With the four applications in the dock, this adds up to 148 applications that can be loaded on the phone at a time.  While plenty for most, the new OS expands this to eleven homescreens, raising the number of allowed apps to a whopping 180 programs.

Another interest tidbit/new feature was discovered by developers under the Settings menu.  A blank item titled "Store" has been added.  It appears that Apple is going to add preferences that users can set for the Applications store, though it has not done so yet.

A walkthrough video showcasing these new features and other features, such as Spotlight search, voice memo recording, MMS messaging, copy-and-paste, landscape application mode for Notes, Web copy-and-paste, multi-photo emailing can be viewed here.

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Yawn...
By DeepBlue1975 on 4/1/2009 2:32:35 PM , Rating: 2
iPhone's software seems to be finally doing some catching up with the real smart phones already available out there for ages.




RE: Yawn...
By omnicronx on 4/1/2009 4:39:25 PM , Rating: 4
What world are you living in? Aside from the basics like cut and paste, the iPhone is still ahead of all other mobile devices.

I would buy one if it were not for the closed environment, that is the turn off for me, not the feature set.


RE: Yawn...
By psypher on 4/1/2009 4:52:23 PM , Rating: 2
Jailbreak it... tada! Open environment...


RE: Yawn...
By omnicronx on 4/1/2009 5:06:07 PM , Rating: 2
That essentially nobody develops for...

Of course there are exceptions, but the vast majority of good iPhone developers are selling their Apps through the App-store.


RE: Yawn...
By cheetah2k on 4/1/2009 10:34:48 PM , Rating: 2
I disagree. How can you say that nobody develops apps for the iphone?

Whether it be Apple App Store apps or Installer/Cydia apps, theres an unbelievable number of programs to choose from for the iphone platform.

And just think, the iphone and its mobile OS is really only approx 2 years old. The only other mobile OS that comes to mind with similar amount of downloadable content is Symbian OS. And, WinMo sits light years behind that of both iphone OS and Symbian OS..


RE: Yawn...
By Souka on 4/2/2009 3:36:15 AM , Rating: 2
lots of apps...sure...good?...well..

I seem to recall an article on this very site about apps on the iphone.

Something like 90% of downloaded free apps are never used beyond the 1st day... same hold true for apps that cost $$, but at %30.

just thought to share... I love & hate all cell phones...and I'll use the "best" my company buys me...heh.


RE: Yawn...
By Ryanman on 4/2/2009 9:29:44 AM , Rating: 2
You see, I've been anti-Mac for ages, and I decided not to buy an iPhone, despite having to get an ATT phone. I bought an Epix, and the hardware is amazing. I've got a full QWERTY keyboard, the optical mouse is perfect, and the touch screen resists scratches, is accurate, and bright. It's SD expandable, and has a perfect form factor.

But all of it pales in comparison to the SUCK that is Windows Mobile. Jesus. The Epix has something like an 800 Mhz CPU in it, but it STILL lags when I go to type a text message! Every single task I can do is hindered by a disgusting amount of lag. What use is SD expansion? WMP is a DISGRACE. Instead of having one device in my pocket I had to buy an Mp3 player. So far the only apps I can stand on it are Opera and a Rush Hour clone. The internet options are confusing and useless. I'm thoroughly underwhelmed.

I still can't buy an iPhone, it's not what I want either. But it's so sad that the otherwise excellent Samsung hardware is saddled with some of the worst software I've used in years.


RE: Yawn...
By Ryanman on 4/2/2009 9:37:39 AM , Rating: 2
correction: 624 Mhz


RE: Yawn...
By kkwst2 on 4/2/2009 3:40:01 PM , Rating: 2
Why would you use WMP? Just download TCPMP. It supports just about any codec you could want.

I use J. River Media Center on my PC (that I had to buy) to sync various playlists to my 8GB SDHC card. Works great.

There are Today screen plugins that should allow you to check and send texts with little or no lag.

I'm not trying to say WM is perfect. It's not. But with a little tweaking it can certainly be functional.

I don't have your exact device (HTC Mogul), but I use mine as a phone, reliable tethering for notebook wireless access, browsing, media player, GPS, and mobile SlingPlayer.


RE: Yawn...
By Ryanman on 4/2/2009 4:30:58 PM , Rating: 2
Don't get me wrong, I know that there are apps I can get that would make the phone easier on myself. But WHY?

There's NO justification for the way WMP functions. None. The fact that they didn't change it in 6.5 is even worse. With SD capacities the way they are, there's no reason I should have two devices in my pocket for media consumption. And when you build an OS for a low power system, lag should be the first priority. It's not like the interface should be graphically intensive either. I like the minimalist style, but what's the point of function over form if it's STILL slowing an above average handset to a crawl?


RE: Yawn...
By omnicronx on 4/2/2009 7:06:51 PM , Rating: 2
Who cares when there are alternatives available? Personally I have no problem with WMP but if you don't like it you have a bunch of choices.

-Coreplayer
-TCPMP
-Slide2play

You have a choice between nice look and feel, to full featured media player, all of which use less resources than WMP.


RE: Yawn...
By Ryanman on 4/6/2009 11:29:47 AM , Rating: 2
I just said I know I have choices! But there should be NO reason why every other alternative is better than what's packaged with my device, especially years after the OS has been developed.


RE: Yawn...
By omnicronx on 4/2/2009 8:35:10 AM , Rating: 2
I meant for unlocked phones. Anyone with half a brain is not going to release their software for free to unlocked phones when they can make a lot of cash through the App store.

And your entire speil about Apple being 'miles ahead' of winMo in terms of software is way off. Yes Apple has all of its software available in one place, but Windows Mobile surely does have a hell of a lot of software available, and it was only just passed by apple, and was surely not passed by symbian. There was even a DT article about this a month ago, but I'm far too lazy to find the link.


RE: Yawn...
RE: Yawn...
RE: Yawn...
By wwwebber on 4/2/2009 4:09:00 AM , Rating: 2
What a load of balls.

The iphone doesnt support Flash or Java, it doesnt have a decent camera or flash, has poor 3G performance and doesnt do video calling, 3.5g or EDGE. This is just what I can remember !!.

Christ it's only just about to support MMS. It's just got a snazzy interface - thats all it is. It will be while before its actual features & functionality rival the big boys.

Go back to planet X my friend for you are not of this world.


RE: Yawn...
By QueBert on 4/2/2009 4:20:34 AM , Rating: 2
What smartphones in the US support Flash? My Motorola Q (WinMo) sure doesn't. So that's a moot point. Java? the same. Decent camera? Hummm that's not really a feature of any smart phone I know of in the US. The camera on the iPhone is suffice next to a Moto Q or Blackjack or whatever Blackberry is offering. Here's what my iPhone has

very good email support, where it auto syncs my contacts and calendar. And THE BEST web browser, some people care about ab uber camera with a nice flash, I don't. For what I use my phone for the iPhone is the best, period. I will say this until I'm blue in the face, I'll take Safari on my iPhone over Opera Mini or ANY other mobile browser. It's not even close, and it won't be for years. I don't even think WinMo 6.5 will have a comparable browser. Macromedia will have Flash by this summer, and uhh as for Java I don't know of any phone in the US that supports it. I'm not saying they don't exist (just haven't seen one) Java support is worthless IMHO.

As for Video calling, again this isn't even something we have in the US. It might be huge in Europe & Japan but here it's non existent. I can't think of a carrier out here who even offers it. You can buy a N9X that will do all the stuff you mentioned, but it's fluff. I played with one, and while the camera was great for a phone, it sucked balls next to my $150 Panasonic P&S.


RE: Yawn...
By omnicronx on 4/2/2009 8:37:45 AM , Rating: 2
Your Q supports Flashlite and Java, you probably just don't have them installed.. not that I don't agree with the rest of your post.


RE: Yawn...
By QueBert on 4/2/2009 4:25:27 AM , Rating: 2
also, I would trade any feature you mentioned for 3rd party apps. Between Cydia & iTunes App Store I have a mind blowing selection of apps. I have spent probably $300 on apps since the store opened up. And I can do things with my iPhone you simply cannot do with any other phone out there. For me, Beatmaker alone (paid $20) > every other "smart phone" I also love my VNC proggy where I can control my PC in real time, just bad ass!


RE: Yawn...
By kkwst2 on 4/2/2009 3:26:08 PM , Rating: 2
Beatmaker is your must-have app? OK.

I hope you're not suggesting that VPN is an iPhone-exclusive feature. I've been doing it on various WM phones for around 4 years now.

I'll certainly admit that WM is not perfect. It is still laggy sometimes and I probably have to soft-reset my device every 2-3 days.

However, mixing groovy beats aside, I think I can do as many things if not more with my WM phone than can be done with an iPhone.


RE: Yawn...
By Aloonatic on 4/2/2009 4:40:13 AM , Rating: 2
One of the main things that the iPhone has going for it is that it was one of the first phones to bring some of functionality and ideas that most of the rest of the world had been enjoying for years in a well packaged shiny case to the USA, which until then had been some way behind for years when it came to mobile phones.

It was a rather odd thing to travel to the states a few years ago, back when I had a w800i to see virtually everyone I met look at me as if I had some space age device in my hands, when it was just a pretty good phone that I got free with a reasonably priced contract in the UK.

Colour screens were a revelation to most, let alone a fully colour that you could see the pretty good photographs that the w800i took on (probably still better than the photos that the iPhone takes) and then just a few of the basic free applications that it had as standard got their heads spinning.

It's no great surprise that a phone created within the USA that looks as good as the iPhone does and is as easy to use as it is (apparently, have never actually used one) is seen as such an amazing device in the USA and it's strange foibles and short comings are forgiven so easily.

Its affect on people is a strange mix the affect that the xBox and PS3 have, where the obvious shortcomings (ala xBox reliability) are forgiven so easily whilst also being rather expensive (ala PS3) which engenders a certain amount of envy from those who cannot afford one leading them to attack it with gusto at every given opportunity.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind one, if they were to sort the damn camera out, but then I'd probably be better off with a camera phone. 1 phone will never please all the people all of the time, why do people pretend that 1 should or will?


RE: Yawn...
By omnicronx on 4/2/2009 8:46:18 AM , Rating: 2
Everyone always has no trouble listing off things the iPhone does not have, but they never list off the things other phones do not have. Multitouch is huge, developer support is huge, and they still do have the best browser, although they will not hold their crown for that much longer. Then again the phone has been out 2 years, and browsers are just now catching up.

Java, although nice is not a requisite either when you have tons of developers writing software for your platform.

Flashlite is not real flash, it only barely runs stable now on WinMo phones, and I hear its nothing to die for on symbian phones.

Its not like I own an iPhone, I have an HTC Diamond, but you have to give the iPhone cudos, they are single handily driving the industry single handed. More has happened in the last two years in the mobile OS industry than the last 10 years, and all of this was kick started by Apple.


RE: Yawn...
By DeepBlue1975 on 4/2/2009 4:11:55 PM , Rating: 2
There are many of us for whom the UI is not the holly grail.
First: there's no touch-only phone that would do the trick for me, and as such I really hate that many companies are coming up with iPhone wannabes.

Second: cut and pase is the most basic feature out there. It's been present for ages in the smart phone world and he who says can do without it, is because he doesn't actually need a smart phone at all.

Third: the camera is still a load of crap for a multimedia wannabe device. iMean, the iPhone is not being marketed as a serious or "get the job done" kind of phone, it is marketed more like a fashionable toy, and as such, the lack of a good camera (for cell phone standards) is not forgivable. I know, when I want to take really good pictures I take the dSLR out, but for ocassional pictures, a camera like the one on my n95 usually serves me well quality wise, not to talk about video recording which is really usable on this one... But not on the iPhone.

Conclusion:
You don't need cut and paste, you don't need a good camera, you don't need a real keyboard, you don't need to use office there... And then... What's the iPhone THAT good for? Playing games? Most WM and high end Symbian devices do great on that appartment, too.

Figures the most wanted feature of the iphone is just the looks and the ability to brag about having an expensive piece of tech that does nothing better than others costing the same, except only for a pretty neat touch UI which, I think, is the best there is yet (but I need the real keyboard anyway, which even one like the crappy thing on my n95 allows me to be more productive), and even then, you have to bear with the hassle of a closed platform... And iTunes for uploading content...

I can't find where the iPhone would be ahead of other phones in feature except for the UI, everything else has just been catching up through the successive versions...


These go to 11...
By Doormat on 4/1/2009 2:28:17 PM , Rating: 4
Obligatory Spinal Tap reference...




"I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired." -- North Korean Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il











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