iPhone gets tweaked Safari in firmware 2.2
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Sep 27th 2008 9:55PM
posted Sep 27th 2008 9:55PM
[Via Wired, thanks Konstantin]
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This site has become a joke. Where did Engadget's integrity go?
[/sarcasm]
Probably to the same place your sense of humor went.
Our integrity -- like this post, apparently -- is above your head.
I liked iPhone Safari the old way :-\
I thought asperger's disease was only applicable in face to face conversation.
Huh, who knew?
Hooyah Apple. i love the 2.2 update, my iphone is that much better. Hey guy's comon let's go grab a ibeer, the drinks are on ime.
that actually 2 changes: no zoom icon and refresh button moved
enough for version to be called 2.3
I just HAD to look in the comments, because i was certain at least someone wouldn't get the joke. To think it would be the first poster was a bit shocking.
Hey, say what you will about the first poster, but at least he didn't post "first!".
that looks terrible. why would they use up more of the already limited screen space with something useless?
Thank you! The iPhone's screen is already lacking so many pixels next to HTC's current offerings that I can't imagine giving up more real estate for that toolbar. That's awful.
Totally agree - I love that the bar auto hides once the page loads so then i get that much more of the page displayed. This is a terrible "feature". Apple needs to reallocate their developers time a little wiser. Let's have them do things that IMPROVE the way it works, not take steps backwards.
Won't this save some space by having both the search and address bar in one line? When you click the magnifying glass it pops out another line for the search bar....I'm guessing it won't be there anymore.
What are you guys talking about? I'm comparing my current iPhone to the image above, and it (2.2) takes up *less* space.
On 2.1, when you click on the address bar a 2nd line shows up for search. 2.2 uses less space. Also, the address bar scrolls up with the page so it takes up no space when out of view.
sorry. Missed the "at all times".
Yep, this sucks. leave it alone.
that isn't paint. those ipods are painting the walls with the blood of the nonbelievers.
I think it's clumsy wording in the piece - I'm sure the address bar will still autohide.
Actually, it's pretty sensible to move search to the right, like in most desktop browsers. Always has me hesitating a moment when I go to tap it. So, despite the sarcasm, this probably will be more useful than cut and paste (which I've wished I had, like, twice...)
@CraigJ
No, you were right the first time, all they meant was that when you were looking at the URL bar it would show the search/URL fields at the same time without the dropdown, it will still stay up at the top.
It already does this in landscape mode if you tap on it, expanding it to cover the opposite bar if you tap on the URL/search box. It's just going to be like that in portrait mode now.
How are they using more space by eliminating the second line that would normally be used by the Google search box? Perhaps Engadget could have written it more clearly, but the Safari change does not mean that this bar will ALWAYS be on the screen.
Guys, the wording in this post might be clumsy.
In 2.1 the search bar (and keyboard) pops up when tapping the adress bar. In 2.2, the address bar and Google share space on a single row, rendering it unnecessary to tap the address bar first in order to Google.
I can't imagine this new compacted toolbar isn't gonna auto-hide. In fact, the source never even mentioned anything like that.
So the news is: Google is now accessible directly from the toolbar at the top - one less tap to make.
Am I REALLY the only iPhone user who doesn't care about copy+paste? The way Engadget carries on surely there must be something wrong with me.
Yep, I think you may be.
not the only one, really don't see the big deal in copy/paste barely ever use it on my laptop and can think of maybe 10 times in the last 6 months where it may have saved me roughly 10 seconds of time.
I don't giveacrap either. Its just one of the things that WinMo owners can cling to since their browsers can suck a golf ball through a garden hose.
Some of us actually do things with our phones and computers. I don't think a day goes by without me copy and pasting.
I agree with you. Except for maybe the 2-3 times that copy/paste would have saved me time on the iPhone. I don't think its that useful. I'm sorry but most people on Engadget. Just read of spec sheets and compare useless features of other phones. Srsly...MMS?...voice dialing? Yes lets also ad a Flash to the phone..because you know cell phone flashes are so damn good!
No, I agree with you, I don't really need copy/paste on my iPhone. Sure it would be handy to have, but I wouldn't use it much, I can't think of many scenarios where I'd actually need it.
I'm hoping that they don't keep this layout with the search crammed in with the address bar, it doesn't look good, and I hardly use the feature anyway. Maybe it's just Apple testing the waters, trying to gauge people's reaction?
Cell phone flash is actually quite useful.
I use it on my Nokia E71 and I feel my browsing experience would be greatly detracted from without it.
Same goes for MMS and copy/paste.
Here's a tip for those who don't miss copy/paste: If Apple added it in, you still don't have to use it.
My nokia phone has copy/paste, and it is a really wonderful feature. Too bad their browser doesn't fucking support it ...
I think if your going to live in the corporate world (like Blackberry) and your getting important emails whether it is in the health care industry or other industry that has sensitive information in email. you just sometimes need to forward some information to another person and not the total whole email. I work in health care and we have to be HIPA complient and cant be sending out patient information. Cut and paste is handy
@unsigned
What was that noise?
Oh, it was just the sound of Opera 9.5 kicking the shit out of your stupid argument.
@fh
If Apple added it, they would love it. Since Apple doesnt, they dont need it.
Thats how the fanboy thing works nowadays.
As a owner of a iPhone I would like to say where the fuck is offcial mms, voice dialing and Bluetooth transfers...
Coming soon, June 2009.
I dont need MMS, I have email. And most everyone now has phones with email. So don't give me that BS about sending MMS to non smartphones. Voice Dialing while cool, i never used it on my old windows phone. I'd rather just search(great on iPhone) then look like a retard who needs to speak to his phone. Besides its annoying if everyone started speaking to their phones in public places. Bluetooth transfers and wireless sync is defenetly needed tho.
Coming soon: The day the iPhone will be on par with a normal cell phone with MMS, copy & paste, Bluetooth file transfers, and voice dialing. Say Hello to iPhone (4th Generation)
That G1 is looking better every day...
"Voice Dialing while cool, i never used it on my old windows phone. I'd rather just search(great on iPhone) then look like a retard who needs to speak to his phone."
How do you use your phone? Generally it involves speaking into the phone so the other person can hear you.
"Coming soon, June 2009."
For a fee of $15.00
@fatima
My phone doesn't have e-mail
@fatima
Which planet do you live if you think most everybody's phone supports email!
@ Fatima
Sending pictures out with email from the iPhone is an OK workaround, however there is no feasible workaround for RECEIVING MMS messages on the iPhone. Most people that I know aren't going to think to address the picture to an email address in order to send it to me (actually, I've told them to and they still don't).
It is very annoying having to go back and forth between the text message with the "message ID" and "password" and Safari (viewmymessage.com) in order to see a simple picture that someone has MMSed me.
Apple really needs to get on the whole MMS thing...most cellphones for the last 7+ years have at least been able to receive them!
@bjsguess
Voice Dialing is especially useful when you're using a headset and you're driving or doing something else where you can't/shouldn't take your eyes away. Just tap a button on the headset and it automatically calls up the voice dialing app and you speak the name. The Phone then dials the number. It's a way of being more efficient and avoiding possibly dangerous scenarios.
I take it you use a bluetooth headset while driving? It's illegal in some states in the US to operate a phone while driving... but Bluetooth headsets are legal, and this feature becomes especially useful in these scenarios!
What is everyones issue with MMS. In yesteryear it was semi useful when camera phones have less than svga quality cameras. But now the pictures are always resized, and squashed pictures from a crap camera phone is never pretty in the first place. For one i hate receiving them. MMS will surely be obsolete soon enough, email must be the way forward, its just more universal and free!
As for copy & paste and voice dialing, i've never needed it but i understand some people do so that is ridiculous
How about an SMS character counter?! I got burned the other day when I got my sms bill! Half my messages were using more than 160 characters. And lack of forwarding SMS as well - don't get me started on that!
Also when synching with itunes - why is there a need for itunes/iphone wanting to backup your iphone EVERY TIME? Better management of backups please!
@Fatima
There are far more phones out there without email. Some of those phones with be analogue phones with a whole lot of nothing, but many of the phones out there are less than 4 years old and will have MMS but not email... or else email will not have been set up.
I often use voice dialling on my phone. Guess what it looks compleletly natural because right after I say the name the phone dials the person and (gasp) I start talking to them through the phone.
S
I'm sure you'll get mms next year. Apple will call it something else and pretend they invented it.
I hope the screw copy/paste comment was sarcasm, because these changes are pathetic. Safari is fine, it doesn't need changes. Copy paste is necessary
LOL obviously it was sarcastic...
Um, I think that's what the magnifying glass icon that they already had was for...so they're not really even saving you a tap here...guys?
...hey, you're right. What is going on?
i don't get it...not the new Safari tweaks, but since you mentioned copy/paste again: what in the world would compel a company like Apple to hold out on something as elemental as copy/paste ?!! will there be a documentary a few years down the line, named "Who Killed Copy/Paste?"
this is just an unbelievably arrogant move on their behalf to ignore the millions of voices who say "wha?!"
and even more arrogant to ignore the voices who respond to realizing that there is no proper Search in the iPhone, which could find the contents of contacts or email, as any modern device can, who scream "wha, whaaa?!"
it took me 5 years to get my 75 year old father to adopt a Palm Tungsten over his paper and pen method of entering his contacts, until he finally said: "wow, this is amazing how i can just find anything now"..."and how i can just copy addresses and notes between contacts"...
and since he switched to the iPhone to fulfill his dream of a fully integrated device that is both a PDA *and* a phone, he's been asking me: "so, how do i find someone by just typing a part of their street address?"...
not to mention that my telling him that copy/paste is still not something that exists in the iPhone puts him into one of those long, awkward pauses that says "why did i ever move away from the Palm?".
seriously, i love the iPhone, but this is freakin' ridiculous beyond belief!
Yeah really, it's like Zune with the clock!
@Backlin
The zune does have a clock now.
They want to implement it so that it's easy to use and intuitive. And pretty much all the basic finger functions are used up, so they're going to have to get creative in order to implement copy/paste in an iPhone-esque way. They haven't ignored it.
@Don
Well, saying it's not a priority sure sounds a lot like ignoring it to me. I think if there only issue was trying to figure out a gesture, they would have said it's on the horizon. If you ask a co-worker or friend to do something and they told you it wasn't a priority, how much confidence would you have that they were even considering working on it?
@Don
honestly, i don't buy that. i think apple just really doesn't feel like doing it. i love my iphone. it's by far the dopest phone i ever had. but how about this: double tap. what? yeah, um double tapping the screen could activate "copy mode" where you use two fingers to select something, one at starting point and one at ending. it's highlighted and you tap your selection to save it. then where ever you want to paste it you just hold your finger there (like when saving pictures) and you have the option to paste. there you go, a very Apple-y iPhone-esque way to copy and paste.
@ Don
I just thought of a really simple way- when you hold your finger down on text to get the magnifying glass, position it where you want the copy to start, then hold another finger down anywhere else on the screen to start the copy. Slide the magnifying glass over until you have selected what you want, and when you let go, a lille message pops up that says "Copy or Paste." click copy to copy, or paste to paste over what you just selected. Or touch anywhere else to cancel.
It sounds like a lot, but that's only cause I wanted toexplain it well. If you think about how simple that wouldbe, and how it only took me a second to come up with, Apple really could have thought of it and programmer it a million times by now.
I love the iPhone despite it's shortcomings, but I really hate Apple.
id rather have a great browser than copy & paste
Why can't we have both?
I think you guys forgot your tags for your concluding sentence. Seriously.
I hope if fixes some of the safari bugs that have popped up since 2.0. I don't know if this has happened to anyone else, but Safari is downright unusable anymore. It went from crashing about once a week under heavy usage to multiple times per use. It's also slower and more battery consuming for me. Another annoying "bug"(not sure to call this one a bug) since 2.0 is that whenever I flicking through pages, it's seems far more sensitive to click on a link when I'm just trying to scroll.. And as soon as I hit X, the page goes blank. It never did that before, now it does it all the time. Is that just me? Also, the entire phone is more slower, it feels heavy and bloated, unlike before when it was light and snappy. I've tried restoring several times and everything.
Have you installed 2.1. It seemed to fix most of the problems for me. Safari still crashes occassionally, but only on EDGE with an image heavy page.
Yea... fuck copy&paste. Make safari on the iPhone stable. Now that would be great.
Man, they need to get rid of SJ and hire somebody like Eric Schmidt who knows how to run a growning company.
Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955 in Washington, D.C.) is Chairman and CEO of Google Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc.
Im starting to believe that these tiny vague updates are apple's way of trying to fix the radio problems without actually admitting there is a problem.
Yeah. The important problems are at the end of Apple's "priority list" and such minor tweaks for the most important thing in the world to them ! The old Safari was better. And after 2.2 is out, Safari will have display and typing problems and firmware 2.3 will fix that. Why cant they stop fighting with what is working !
Also, why can't Apple even keep their boxes consistent? Maybe I'm just ocd, but it's kinda stupid that the address box is rectangular while the Google box is more like an oval. Come on you guys, get your heads in the game.
The rounded boxes are consistent with all search boxes on the iPhone and OSX. It's meant to give a visual cue to what the box is for.
look at safari for your computer....its the same way....
.....man.....well i guess this is better than push notification and copy/paste and better radio and no more app crashing and....COME ON APPLE!!!!! Just ridiculus. On the up side maybe some new level or flashlight apps will come out....haha. You know what id like to see is an accelerometer calibration in settings.
What apps are crashing? If they are not Apple's apps how is that their problem? Just wondering.
Well pito, its in there app store on there phone so i would figure it would be there problem. But hey i could be wrong. As a matter of fact Asphalt just crashed on me about ten minutes ago. Although i guess thats Gamelofts problem. All in all its becoming my problem......
Maybe you should sort out your own problems before thinking about other people's. You could start by learning how to spell.
I can't understand why MMS messages is not part of this crap..My girlfriend gave the Iphone as a gift last Christmas (I had the HTC Wizard with winmobile 6.1, over clocked and cooked from XDA-Developers). To this day when ever I look at her I deeply question why I am still with her. Every day I pray for WinMobile 7 on the HTC Touch HD. If it is delayed to the 2nd Q 2009 I will leave her..and possile consider violence.
for the love of the god can't they do better than ViewMyMessage.com?
If you base the potential of leaving your girlfriend over a 'gift' she bought you - then you shouldn't be with her (or anyone else for that matter) in the first place. Seriously, are you really that shallow?!
Oh and, as a previous avid fan of Windows Mobile - it's pathetically stagnating - and i am afraid that Windows Mobile 7 doesn't promise to be too much better.
I hope you accidentally leave yourself logged into engadget and she finds this comment.
If you like WinMo that much, then you should know that version 7 won't be coming until 2010.
http://mobile.slashdot.org/mobile/08/09/27/1825239.shtml
Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste
Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste
Give us Voice Dialing!!! Give us real chat. Let us easily offload photo's taken on the phone. Keep the browser from closing on it's
own. Give us good cell reception while 3G is on. Let us web surf while on a phone call. Give us turn by turn GPS.
Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste Copy Paste
I really couldn't care less about Copy Paste!!!
really? You can't easily offload pictures from the iphone?
@Dan: You can unload pictures off your iPhone. He just doesn't know what he's talking about.
websurfing while on a phone call (at least over 3G/EDGE) is technically impossible without having 2 cellular chips in the phone.
Excuse me for not being as perfect as you guys. My point is, all this talk about copy/paste is ridiculous. There are more significant changes/fixes that the iphone needs instead of copy/paste.
Further, instead of being rude, arrogant, piss ants, perhaps you could offer advice or assistance. A little better attitude can make the world a better place.
@Robert Cable / wickedpheonix
actually you can surf the web and be on a phone call simultaneously
or send a text and be on a phone convo at the same time. Perhaps you (wickedpheonix) are
not familiar with 3g capabilities, but along with increased speed over
edge it allows you those options i mentioned as well (voice and data
transfer simultaneously) As long as your in a 3g area hit your home
button while on the phone and then tap safari and surf! easy as that. Or hit home button and then tap your SMS and send a text. It works I Promise.
cmon learn the technology before you go bashing apple for a feature
that is allowed by the technology and not the software!
Kyle,
I don't know about you. For me, with 3G on, hitting home while on a call disconnects my call. I am not an engineer. I have only tested this with one/my iphone. But, I am inclined to think that wickedphoenix is correct.
3G meaning UMTS/HSPA CAN support data and voice at the same time, that one of the GINORMOUS selling features of that upgrade path over EV-DO revisions!
Robert,
Im really not sure what the issue with your device is, that is supposed to be a big advantage of 3g is the ability to do both at once (voice and data) i actually tested it with my two phones i have prior to posting ( to make sure there was not an outlash on this site, you know many tuff guys at the keyboards these days) and then once after i posted my comment to see if it still was doing what it was suppose to, (for the record it worked both times) My question to you is one do you have wifi turned off ? this could or could not be a problem i am not sure though (mine is turned off for the record) and are you in an area where it bounces back and forth alot from edge to 3g ? either way it should not disconnect your call by simply hitting the home button. let me know and see what we can find out, ill help you out why everyone else whines about copy and paste ;)
Am I the only person who prefers the way Safari looks now?
That design in the picture looks pretty cluttered, actually. Hope the jailbreak community can come up with a way to change it back to 2.1 status.
It's actually pretty trivial to change Safari's look. Have you seen the Chromafari theme on Cydia?
How about making Safari doesn't close itself whenever visiting any sites with more than a few pictures, Apple?
It quits visiting Engadget, it quit visitng the regular CNET.com, it quits visiting Yahoo News.
I have to restart my iPhone more than I have to restart Windows 98 Ten years ago.
maybe you have a defective phone. A guy at my office had the same problem and had it replaced. I visit Engadget all the time, and I also frequent sites like Picasaweb, which has a ton of pictures on one page, and a lot of javascript and I have few problems. Safari crashed maybe once every week or two.
Not that I have an iPhone, not do I have a remote desire for one, it seems as though the phenomena that is happening now is similar to another thing that I am at least partially familiar with. There is a certain point in an architect's career in which he/she may become transformed in a starkitecht [I'll say Zaha Hadid for example since I dislike her work most of all; wait, no, Peter Eisenman]. You see, when this happens, people have become so enamored with the shit you spew from your mouth and hands that you can basically get away with whatever you want and not have to worry about the consequences of your short sightedness or limited perspective. It would seem as though Apple, and Steve Jobs playing the part of corporate personification, have begun to approach that sort of level.
What that means for Apple, is that they're probably going to be sticking to the same aesthetic and product with minor revisions. None of their products get my gadget spot all hot and bothered anymore, though that could just be the fact that most who use their stuff take the things they do right and obsess over them, and throw up the horse blinders when there is something missing.
as an architecture student I know exactly what you are talking about. I have heard both of these people speak in person and I honestly believe they believe they are the greatest thing to ever happen to the world. Most of the professors are the same way as well.
But for real they need copy/paste asap. (this was written on an iPod touch)
"None of their products get my gadget spot all hot and bothered anymore, though that could just be the fact that most who use their stuff take the things they do right and obsess over them, and throw up the horse blinders when there is something missing."
I think the whole clipboard debate kills that argument.
Am I the only one who can't afford an iPhone plus AT&T's expensive calling plans?
Oh, suck it up. Welcome to the cellular phone industry, and the smartphone market. If you can't handle the prices, go back to Zimbabwe.
Hey no need to lash out just because you haven't gotten laid in a long time. Have fun throwing money away. :)
@Bassir STFU - you are just a troll that is willing to pay whatever to drink the koolaid - the plans are expensive
@cubanresourceful i suggest you buy a 1st Generation iphone and sign up with tmobile = u can run it unlocked - i have internet, text, 1500 minutes all under $55