Technology Thailand

Hands on with an iPhone 3G running 3.0

Jun 11, 2009 00:31

Not since Ford released the 5.0 Mustang has anything with a name containing a number ending in point "O" excited so many people like the new iPhone 3.0 firmware. So, while visiting a friend who is a developer, I was lucky to get my hands on an iPhone 3G with the final 3.0 firmware and quickly ran through some of the features I have been waiting for.

Before doing anything,  I hooked it up to my MacBook and restored a backup of my iPhone settings and files. While my iPhone is still being synced with my music and videos, we'll take a look at iTunes and Mobile Me.

1. iTunes
The first thing you notice after you update to 3.0 is not the changes to the iPhone, which is still restoring from your backup. In iTunes, you'll see that your software version is 3.0 and there is now another checkbox item under the Options menu for encrypting your backups. Once you check the box, you will be presented with a popup asking you to set a password for your backups. Under "Info", there is a new option to sync Notes. Aside from that, there is no noticeable difference in your syncing options under iTunes.

 

 

2. Mobile Me
First, dive into Settings > Mail, Contacts Calendars > (your mobile me email account), and switch "Find my iPhone" on.



Moving over to Mobile Me's Options page, you'll notice that there is a new icon which appears as the last item, the Locate My iPhone application. This is not the result of the update, but rather, Apple's addition shortly after the June 8 event.  

 

Hit that menu item and it takes you to a maps page where it automatically attempts to locate where your iPhone is. I suspect this utilizes Bonjour to get to your iPhone's GPS data via the Internet. How long it takes to locate your iPhone probably depends on how long it takes to get a good GPS fix as well, so be patient. This did not seem to work for me. I suspect this may not be turned on yet possibly due to the firmware not supposed to be out yet. Or it could be my GPRS connection and not being able to get to a faster connection right now.

Display a Message and Remote wipe also failed. I'll have to try these Mobile Me-based features once this is officially out and I have a decent connection.



3. Voice Memos
Using this app is straightforward. Record is on the bottom left, Stop/list is on the bottom right. There is a cool VU meter between them, which seems to actually work and twitches depending on the level of what you're recording. Hitting this List button takes you to a list of your saved memos. A Share button and Delete button are located at the bottom of the list screen. Hitting the Share button bring up options to send the memo via MMS or email. Selecting the little arrow next to any memo takes you to the details page noting length, date and time recorded. There is also a trim Memo button which launches the Edit window allowing you to edit and trim down your memo. Hitting the Share button brings up the same menu as before.





 

4. Finder
Finder appears as a mall icon just above the dock. Hitting that icon, swiping your screen to the right, or hitting the Home key once brings up the finder application. Simply enter a search query and off it goes. It's that easy. Just like the Mac version, it starts to search for matches as soon as you start typing. The more characters you type in, the shorter the list of potential results gets. Tapping the results opens up the app which it appears in.

  



5. Thai language support
This is something I've been simply annoyed by ever since the iPhone was being officially sold in Thailand, but there was no way for me to type in Thai without jailbreaking or purchasing an app which worked only for SMS composing.

Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards

Switch on Thai or any of the keyboards you want to enable, and presto, the international keyboard icon is enabled on the keyboard, which changed my keyboard to Thai when clicked.



6. Landscape keyboard
Works as promised. No big difference. It works just as it always has in Safari. 

7. Streaming video in Safari
Relying on GPRS(!!!!) I did not dare try this yet. Will try to get a Wi-Fi connection a bit later to test this out.

8. CUT, COPY & PASTE
This header deserves to be in all caps because it is a feature that people have been bitching about for the past two-plus years. So, doing a bit of multitouch dragging and scrolling, I was able to successfully copy-and-paste some text from today's copy of CNET Asia's Home Entertainment newsletter. Long tapping anywhere on the screen allows you to select the highlighted text or select all. Doing so again lets you copy or cut, and the third time around lets you paste what you've just copied/cut.



9. MMS
Clicking on the Messages icon opens up the SMS/MMS app. You're prompted to enter your number in order to get the app to work. MMS messages appear as any other messages do, threaded into contacts/numbers. Clicking the Create message icon takes you to a redesigned message template. On top is the recipient list with a "+" button to add multiple recipients. The middle is where your conversation history will appear, and any media inserted will also appear here. Just below is a camera icon which when tapped, will ask you to either take a new picture or Choose Existing media. The former automatically launches the camera app. The latter takes you to your picture albums. Hit Send and the MMS slowly makes it way across your network (no 3G for this in my area just yet). 

Diving deeper into the settings General > Network > Cellular Data Network gets you to the data settings and MMS settings. These can be changed to match your carrier's settings. Sending to my work phone on a different carrier was no more difficult than with any other MMS-capable phone.

  

 

10. Bluetooth
Turning on the Bluetooth "switch" automatically starts the search for nearby devices. I was able to automatically pair the Sony DR-BT21G in less than 5 seconds and did not need to enter any passcode.



Clicking the little arrow next to the device status brings you to a submenu with a Forget this Device option. With headset paired, I doved into the iPod application.

Watching today's episode of CNET's Loaded, I was pleasantly surprised to find that audio was automatically channeled to the headset without the need for any other settings to be changed. It should be noted that despite full control being given to the headset's control buttons (Next, Volume, Play, Pause, Seek), the controls with the exception of volume still works from the iPhone.

Audio is consistently piped to the headset in any app you may be using as long as the headset is paired and turned on. Phone calls came in loud and clear, but this is also dependent on the quality of your headset. However, I did notice that when paired with the iPhone, I did not experience the drips and interference that was plaguing this headset when paired with my Nokias and even with my MacBook.

11. iTunes Store
As promised, a Movie, TV Show and Music Video section appearing under the "videos" icon has been added to the iTunes Store app. I did not test this feature out just yet because of my slow connection, but have no reason to doubt it would work.

12. Syncing Notes
Well, you don't need to see the contents of my notes, but I can assure you that this does work. A permission screen pops up with the proposed changes for you to accept, just as syncing with iCal does.

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