iPhone OS 3.0 Review: Batteries Not Included

With the help of TMC’s CTO, Tom Keating, I upgraded to the shipping version of the iPhone (News - Alert) 3.0 software before the June 17 general availability date.

The upgrade is easy but it took me about 6 hours to download the new OS, restore the software, load the apps, download the podcasts and sync the photos (then again, I have thousands of contacts and photos and over 50 apps). To my happy surprise, unlike previous upgrades, I didn’t have to reenter WEP keys for secure WiFi (News - Alert).

Push email works great and the landscape keyboard in email makes typing on this device infinitely better. It’s also less clunky when sending a URL to someone (previously you had to switch from landscape to portrait when opening the email application for a send). Also, when looking at an email list, you can now tell which is a Cc, Bcc or direct send, which is signified by a “To” symbol. Ironically, there is no Bcc symbol, meaning if there is no symbol you have been Bcced. This is an important addition to the OS as quite often mobile devices make it more difficult to know if you have been Bcced, so users can accidentally reply to all without realizing they probably shouldn’t.

There is also MMS support but this won’t work on AT&T Wireless for now. Copy-and-paste is a much-needed function and works as advertised — the fact that one of the most advanced smartphones on the market “forgot” to add cut-and-paste sooner still baffles me.

Spotlight search is another much-needed function — especially when you realize there is no way to organize applications, and is activated when you scroll all the way to the left from the home page. Searches will sift through contacts, programs, calendar, email, songs and other data on the phone but unlike the Palm Pre will not check the web if the device search comes back empty.

Voice Memos are a great addition allowing you to record your voice and send the recordings via email if desired. The improved calendar now lets you add repeating reminders but these are limited to fixed time periods like every week, 2 weeks, month or year. Ideally you would be allowed to enter recurring reminders for selected days — like every Monday or the first Wednesday of the month. Moreover, what if someone wants a 3-week recurring reminder? This was a design decision which delivers most of the functionality you need in a clear and uncluttered interface. Even so, I wish I could set a calendar reminder more than 2 days before an appointment. Microsoft Windows Mobile has had this ability for years so there seems to be no technical reason to exclude such a feature.

Apple (News - Alert) took a very good phone and has made it a more credible corporate smartphone, which means Palm, Nokia, Microsoft and RIM should be worried. Heavy iPhone users need not fret about the keyboard as much as before but they should now think about spare external batteries, since enabling things like push email and bluetooth stereo will shorten battery life. Windows Mobile also drains battery life quickly for heavy email users in push mode. RIM devices do much better in push mode and are optimized in many ways to maximize battery life regardless of mode.

You should be really happy with the new iPhone 3.0 software, it is a winner. IT

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